


Must Have Been The Wind

by invain



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: AU, Abusive Relationships, F/M, Iron Man AU, Mild mentions of abuse, Natasha Is a Good Bro, Pepper and tony, Pepperony - Freeform, Pepperony AU, Protective Tony Stark, Slow Burn, Songfic, aldrich is a dick, dark tony past, domestic abuse trigger, non graphic abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-06-24 02:33:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19714519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/invain/pseuds/invain
Summary: Tony is minding his own business one night when he hears loud bangs coming from the apartment above his, and what he finds changes his world forever.Virginia and Aldrich were happy. Until they weren't.Based on the song must have been the wind by Alec Benjamin.





	1. Part One

Tony arrived back to his apartment just before nine thirty, shutting his door with a sigh and leaning against it, closing his eyes. He'd just worked yet another twenty hour shift, and could feel all of his joints punishing him.  
He pushed himself of the door, throwing his jacket on the chair in his living room, and carried himself towards the bedroom, planting himself in the middle of his bed and turning on the TV, before unwrapping the burger he'd bought from Burger King on his way home.

He'd made the move from Malibu to New York six months ago, in order to try and escape from the dark shadow his dad had left, that seemed to follow him around everywhere he went. Sometimes, especially after days like this one, where he was dead on his feet, he wonders if he made the right choice, if he should have just chosen to take his fathers billions, move to Venice, and piss it away on girls and booze, instead of choosing the 'normal' life, in New York, with a job, and rent.  
He knew he could quit his job and still live comfortably, more than comfortably, if he was being honest with himself.  
He was Tony Stark. He had money. He just hated the way he got it. It was blood money. He wanted no part of it. He never had.

Tony knew that if he wanted out, he'd have to go soon. He was reaching thirty one, and he was sick of doing the one thing he never wanted to do in the first place. Run his fathers business. So, he placed the money into a secret bank account. Made Obadiah Stane CEO of Stark Industries, and moved. Determined to get rid of the past his father had made it impossible to run from.

He was lay on his bed, loosing himself to sleep while watching a brain numbing reality show, when he heard a loud noise coming from the apartment above his, a noise he can only describe to himself as a glass shattering against a wall. He paused the TV, and listened carefully, trying to see if it was actually a noise from up there, or if he just dreamt it.

Tony knew the couple who lived there, well, kind of, anyway. Virginia and Aldrich. A young couple, or at least, she was young, he thought to himself, he, on the other hand, looked like a mixture between both old and young, and obviously punching well above his league with a girl like her.

He remembers when he bumped into her in the lobby a few months back, dressed to the nines in a black dress that hugged her figure. She was stood with a few other girls. He'd congratulated her on graduating business school. He remembers the way his heart fluttered when she smiled at him, the way it twinkled in her eyes. The way her hair reflected in the sunset behind her.

Tony shook himself from those thoughts, blinking slightly to get rid of the image in his mind. She was hot, he knew that, anyone with eyes could see it. But she wasn't an object, and he refused to allow himself to see her as one. Not when he didn't even know how old she was, or even if she knew he existed..  
He went to play the TV again, accepting that maybe one of them just dropped something, or he imagined it, but then hears a loud bang, followed by an even louder thud, muffled shouting from a male, who he assumed was Aldrich. Then the slam of the door. He sits up, and has a debate with himself.  
Tony was going to leave it. He was.  
Couples argued, he knew that. It was normal. But then he swears he can hear her crying, and his heart falls into his stomach.  
He was far to familiar with what kind of situation this could be, and he cant bear the thought of leaving her. So he gets up, grabs his jacket of the chair and heads out of his apartment. He takes the elevator to their floor, and takes slow strides towards their door, taking deep breaths, he stand in front of it, and releases a breath before knocking.

Virginia answers the door not thirty seconds later, and takes his breath away. Her long light red hair is balanced off her shoulders, small natural waves falling loosely at the ends, a few strands of it falling onto her face, which is bare, showing off the small amount freckles that were dotted lightly across her nose and cheek bones. He noticed then how young she looked, how _young_ she probably _was._ She was wearing an oversized jumper that covered her arms and chest, and that's when he noticed her legs. They were long. Very long. And very toned. He looks at her face then, really looks at it, and he knows that is he wasn't as similar with the situation as he was, he would never have noticed the dried tears, or the blood shot eyes.

"Hey..." She said, and he was pulled from his thoughts. The young woman was looking at him with confusion written all over her face, and that's when it hit him that just because he'd noticed her, doesn't mean she' ever noticed him.

"Hey." He replied back with a smile, "I'm Tony-" He began.

"From below us. I know." She smiled back, he noted that he didn't reach her eyes like it did last time he saw it. "Everything okay?" She questions.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." He says gently, and he see's the colour drain from her face, "I heard some loud banging coming from up here. You okay?" He asks her.

Virginia moves the door slightly, and pulled down the sleeves of her jumper into her palms.

His mom used to do that. His heart sank.

"The bangs were quite loud. Thought I used shouting as well.." He looks at her, and she cant meet his eyes as she answers.

"Everything's fine." Virginia said, and finally looked at him, "I didn't hear anything."

"You sure?" He asked her, "Sounded like something heavy hit the floor, thought I heard a glass smash as well."

"I think your ears are playing tricks on you." She smiled, a slight laugh in her voice. She pulled up her jumper higher to her chin.

"Virginia!" A man shouted from inside, "Who is it?"

"Thanks for caring, Sir. That's nice of you, but I have to go back in." She said to him, and his heart broke for her, he could see on her face what was going on. "Wish I could tell you about the noise, but I just didn't hear anything."

"You didn't?"

"Must have been the wind..." She shrugged, and he smiled, nodding his head.

"Must have." He agreed, because he knew was experience how important it was for her to be believed. He learnt it when he was ten. "Sorry to have bothered you."

"No problem." She tilts her head to the side when a noise comes from inside. "See you around, Tony."

"I hope so, Virginia." He said to her, and he turned and walked away slowly as she shut the door.

He dragged his feet back to his apartment, and made his way back to the bedroom. Sitting on the bed, unable to shake the feeling of dread in his gut he sighed and threw himself onto his back.

He'd seen this type of thing before. He'd grew up with it. He knew how it ended.

But he hoped he was wrong. That it was his past making his mind head to this place. That she was fine. She was happy, loved, in love, and treated with kindness and like royalty. Just like he was sure she deserved.

* * *

Virginia shut the door and breathed a sigh of relief. The way he was looking at her, not like he pitted her, but like he understood her, and wanted to help, she almost crumbled. Tears threatened to fall but she shook her head, and walked down the hall way and into the living room.  
Aldrich was sat in front of the TV, whiskey in hand, leaning back on the sofa like nothing was wrong.  
Like he hadn't just thrown a glass, that would have hit her if she didn't duck. As if he didn't just grab her wrist, pin her against the wall and tell her all the things she wasn't. All the things she already knew. He'd thrown her to the floor then, and stormed off as he yelled, slamming the bathroom door behind him. He'd come out while she was at the door, and knew she had to get rid of Tony before Aldrich saw him, the last thing she needed was him thinking see's close with the neighbours.

"Who was it?" He asked, not looking in her direction.

"Just the man from 3A." She said casually, sitting on the sofa next to him, tucking her legs under her and nervously fidgeting with her fingers.

"Why?" He asked, turning to face her.

"He heard a thud, just wanted to make sure we weren't being robbed." A white lie, a shrug in her shoulders.

"What did you tell him?"

"That I didn't hear anything."

"I wouldn't have thrown anything if you weren't so disrespectful." He snapped, turning away from her.

"I know." She spoke quietly, he shook his head.

"And now you're catching the attention if the neighbours?" He scoffed, "Unbelievable."

"I'm going to bed." She tells him, and he rolls his eyes.

"Whatever."

Virginia heads into the bedroom and shuts the door, leaning against it and lets her tears fall freely as she removes the jumper. She pulls down the plain white tee and looks at her bruised wrists, rubbing them slightly before getting into bed, wrapping herself in the duvet.  
She thinks back to a month ago. The night he hit her so hard she fell and whacked her head of the bathroom tiles, knocked out.  
She'd woke up in the ER, a mild concussion. He'd told the doctor's she'd slipped when getting out of the shower, and when they were alone, she told him she was leaving him, and he'd cried. Begged her to stay, telling her he'd change, that he loved her and he would get help.  
She believed him.  
And he had followed up on the promise. He hadn't hurt her since that night until now.

She heard him come into the room not ten minuets later, and he lay next to her, gently placing a hand on her waist, and she rolled to face him.

"You promised me, Aldrich." She uttered, and he sighed.

"I know." He replies, "I shouldn't have flipped out like that." He tells her.

"Why-" She tries, but he speaks over her.

"But you just pushed me tonight." He shakes his head, "I told you I didn't want you going out with Nat and her boyfriend tonight. But you did anyway." He's getting wound up again, she can tell.

"They're my friends, Aldrich." She tells him.

"And I'm you boyfriend" Aldrich states, "I have been for four years, you've known them for two minutes and you're already putting them before me?"

"It's not like that." Her voice is quiet, "And Nat's been my friend since college. You know that."

"I still don't like that you went. And then lied about it." His voice is harsh, "I let you take this job because it was good pay for a woman like you, but don't take the piss, baby."

"I'm sorry." She says, and he sighs. rubbing a hand on the back.

"I know." His voice strained, "Don't lie to me again."

"Okay."

"Come here." He says, pulling her into him, and he places a kiss on her head, "I don't like disciplining you, baby." He says, "But you make it hard sometimes."

"Sorry." She replies, a weak and low voice.

"It's okay." He says, and holds her as he closes his eyes.

She wants to leave. But she's terrified. She's heard stories about people in this situation, where they try to leave and end up dead. Beaten to death.  
He was nice when he wanted to be, she argued with herself, the best actually. Showering her with gifts, affection and love, reminding her of the man she fell in love with when she was eighteen.

She was staying for him. The man she met four years ago. He was in there somewhere. He had to be.

* * *

Tony woke up the next morning, still unable to shake the feeling in his stomach.

He rose from his bed and headed into the kitchen, boiling the kettle as he looked out of the window.

He didn't want to intrude, because he knew that he didn't have all the facts, and he'd never heard anything from them before. In fact, whenever he had seen them they'd always been happy, she was always laughing, smiling, and he was always just so nice to her, making her giggle, holding her hand through the lobby, holding doors open for her.

But he saw the look in her eyes last night, and it made him sick.

He thought back to the nights when he was younger. and could hear his father throwing things around the house, the shouting, the screaming, the cries from his mother.

Tony remembers the night she died like it was yesterday, his mom had told him to pack his bags, that they were going to be staying with his aunt Maura in Santa Clarita for awhile. They were almost out of the house, just about to load the car with their bags.

But his father had come home early, found the bags, and he'd erupted.

He remembers running to his room at his moms request. Slamming the door and hiding under his covers, plugging his ears.

He remembers the loud shouts echoing around the house coming from his father, the screams coming from his mother that rippled through the walls. The fast paced footsteps as she ran up the stairs, her screaming for him to let her go, and then silence, because a large and loud bang.

It was the sound of his mother hitting the bottom floor after his father had thrown her down two flights of stairs. He'd beaten her to the point of internal bleeding, three broke rips, and a broken pelvis.

She'd died on impact.

He was ten years old when his mother died.

His father was sentenced to twenty years without parole. Another two was added not a year later when he beat up a guard.

All his life he was known as the Stark Boy. Billionaire. Son of a wife killer.

As he got older, he was always aware of what people said. That he might be like his father.

He was never able to escape the Howard Stark Story.

Even when he became CEO at twenty one. People still spoke about his father. About how he felt towards his father.

He felt nothing for that man.

Or at least he tried not to.

He shook his head from the memory and made his coffee, drinking it as he got himself ready.

* * *

Virginia woke up, and groaned, cracking her shoulder as she sat up. She could hear Aldrich in the kitchen humming, and she smiled to herself as she sat up, and walked to the wardrobe. She picked out a black jumper and a pair of tight fitted jeans, and sighed, her wrists were purple, and no amount of makeup was going to hide it. It wasn't rare that she wore long sleeves, but it was hot out today, and she really didn't want the questions.

"You look nice." Aldrich said with a wink as he walks into the bedroom, passing her a cup of coffee as she stood behind her.

"Thank you." She said, smirking.

"I like your hair down, it suits you." He told her gently, placing his fingers through it. "What are you doing today?"

"I have another meeting with the companies accountant, and then have to go through the figures for the next project they might be taking on." Virginia told him, leaning her back against him as she placed on two small hoop earrings.

"I thought you had the meeting yesterday?" He asked her, before kissing her on the temple.

"I did." She replies, "But there was a lot to go through. So, today should be the last one." She smiled, standing straight again as she smiled.

"So you lied to me? Again?" He questioned, and she looked at him through the mirror and saw the change in her eyes.

"I didn't lie to you. I never said it would be just one meeting?" She tells him, "What's the big deal?" She asked him, not understanding why he was angry about this.

"The big deal, Virginia." He says, and grabs her by the back of the neck with extreme force, pressing down on it harshly, causing her to gasp in pain. "Is that you just keep lying to me."

"I didn't lie." She tells him, "Let go of me." She says, trying to get his hands of her by moving her neck. He grabbed her harder, before pushing her forward, and letting go, walking out of the room, and she releases a breath when she hears the front door slam.

She touched the back of her neck, and closed her eyes, refusing the cry. Looking at herself in the mirror, she pierced her lips, shaking her head at herself.

"What the hell is wrong with you." She says to herself, before grabbing her back and leaving the apartment.

* * *

The doors open for the elevator, and he see's her as he looks up, smiling at her as he enters.

"Hey." He says to her.

"Hey." She replies, her voice quiet. Tony looked at her, and blinked slowly.

"Sorry about last night," He said, and she looked at him. "I shouldn't have intruded."

"Its fine." She says with a small smile.

He notices that she's wearing a black jumper, and he cant help the words that fall out of his mouth.

"Its over twenty five degree's outside, why are you wearing a jumper?"

"Iron deficiency." She tells him without skipping a beat, like its rehearsed, and not the first time she's said it.

"Oh. Okay." He accepts, and she looks at him before talking a breath, like she was about to say something that took a lot of from her, her mouth opened, but the elevator pinged, and it closed just as fast, and she turned from him.

They look up and see Aldrich, "Hey, you ready?" He says to Virginia, extending his hand, and Tony watches as she nods.

"Yeah." She takes his hand.

"It's tony, right?" Aldrich asks.

"Yeah."

"Thanks for the concern last night." The man smirks, "Its good to know if something ever is wrong, we have someone who will hear, and come and see if were okay."

_I wasn't checking on you._ Is what he wants to say, "Yeah." Is what he does, "No problem." And he holds the mans gaze, letting him know that if he hears anything like it again, he'll not hesitate to do it again.

"Anyway." Aldrich states, "See you around Tony."

"See ya." Tony replies, and his eyes move to the women stood next to him. She's eying him curiously, like a woman who has no idea who she can trust, but may have found someone she can. Her eyes are soft as they look at him, her head tilted slightly, like she's deep in thought. Aldrich pulls her arm, and she blinks, clearing her throat.

"Bye Tony." She says softly, a little smile on her lips.

"Bye Virginia." He smiles back, and watches as Aldrich pulls her again, and they walk off.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Aldrich says to her is a harsh tone as they head down to the carpark. Squeezing her hand and pulling her into him, and the force on her hand is painful, and she knows if he squeezes any harder, it will break

"What?" She asks, trying to pull her hand from his grip.

"Bye Tony." He mimics, "You looked a fool." He laughs, "And you made look one as well."

"I was just saying bye." Virginia defends, still trying to pull her hand from his grip, biting her lips so she doesn't cry.

"You were fliting! Right in front of me." He shouts, and she frees her hand, sighing, flexing it with a sharp breath as they reach the carpark, and head to her car.

"God!" He shouts, and turns to face her, "Its like you want me to be angry with you."

"Sorry."

"So you keep saying." He grabs her arm and pulls her along with him. "When will you learn that I'm the only man that will ever be able to love you?" He states to her, "You're nothing without me." He whispers into her ear.

He pushes her against her car, and looks at her.

"Be home by seven." He tells her, and she looks up from her bag as she grabs her keys.

"I have plans tonight. You know I do."

"Not anymore. Seven. If you're not home I'm coming to get you."

"Okay." She replies in a weak voice, opens her car door and slams it shut, not even looking at him as she reverses and speeds off.

She calls Nat once she's in the car.

"Hey Gin!" She says happily, "You ready for tonight?"

"Nat, I'm sorry. I cant make it tonight."

"What?" Nat sighs. "Why not? It's girls night!"

"I know. I'm sorry. I have a meeting with the companies accountant and then have to go through all the stuff for the next project. I'll be at work all night."

"I hate you job." Natasha jokes, and Virginia laughs. "Next time though, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Promise?" Nat asks, and she can hear the smirk on her best friends face.

"Promise." She laughs.

"Good. See you soon, love you." Natasha tells her.

"Love you too."

The call ends, and Virginia takes a breath, and looks at her hand as she waits in the traffic, it was red, and prayed it wouldn't bruise. She didn't need anymore bruises.

* * *

Virginia arrives back at the apartment block at ten to seven, and sighs as she walks though the lobby, and into the mail room, she was collecting her mail when he walked in.

"We have to stop meeting like this." Toy joked, and Virginia turned to face him, and laughed.

"I've seen you more over the last two days than I have since you moved in." She joked back, and his laugh made her heart flutter, and her stomach flip, she looked away from him.

"About this morning.." She began, and he looked at her.

"What about it?" He asked, confusion written all over his face. Maybe she was just being polite like she thought, her mind says to her, so she shook her head.

"Nothing." She says, a small on her face that doesn't quite reach her eyes as she looks back at him.

"How long have you been with your boyfriend?" He asks, "Aldrich is it? COO of AIM?"

"Yeah." She nods, "And about four years."

"Lucky." He smiles to her, and she just hums as she looks down.

"What is it you do?" He asked her.

"Forensic accountant." She says, and his eyes widen.

"That's a tough job." He says, "You must be clever, some may even say on the genius level." He jokes, pointing at himself, and she chuckles.

"I bet your boyfriend is very proud of you." He says, and her smile faults, "And your parents.." He says, she just shrugged.

"You got anyone special?" She asks him with a smirk, and he laughs again.

"No." He shakes his head, a smile on his lips that makes her smile, "I work too much, and, as my ex described me, emotionally unavailable."

"That's not true." He looks at her then, and her eyes catch his, "You came to check on me last night, didn't you? That takes emotion." She nods to him, and Tony went to reply when Aldrich walked in.

"I thought I heard you." He says, and Virginia holds up the letters in her hand.

"Just getting the mail."

"I see that. Hey Tony." He says, raising an eyebrow.

"Aldrich." Tony replies.

"Come on." He says to Virginia, "I have something for you."

"See you around, Tony." Virginia says to him, and he nods.

"See you around."

He watches as they walk away, and turns his head towards the reception desk when he hears someone mutter under his breath.

"You okay?" Tony asked the man, Harold, the apartment buildings security, who'd he'd nicknamed Happy a few months back, as he was almost smiling.

"That girl..it angers me the way that man treats her." The man explained, and tony walked over

"What do you mean?"

"He just treats her like dirt, putting her down." Happy tells him. "She's so young, she should be out having fun, but he's so controlling, I can tell."

"How old is she?" Tony asked him and the security man sighed.

"Went out for the twenty second about eight months ago with a few friends."

"Wow." Tony said, he knew she was young, but he didn't expect that.

"How old is he?"

"About thirty." Happy said, and Tony sighed.

"Have you noticed anything strange?" Tony asked, and Happy shrugged his shoulders.

"About four months after they moved in, their neighbours started complaining about his shouts, and that they'd be noises, such as things hitting walls, loud thuds." He said, "But I asked them about it and they said their boiler was playing up. A man came in, said he was fixing a boiler, and then the complaints stopped."

"Strange."

"Yeah."

* * *

"I thought I said seven." Aldrich said to her as the elevator door shut.

"I was getting the mail." She told him again.

"Is that all you were doing?" He asked her and she looked at him as he raised his eyebrow, "You and Tony seemed very comfortable."

"We were just talking."

"About?" He pressed.

"Stuff.. you know." She says, "Our day, just being neighbours."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying." She says, and flinches as he grabs her upper arm and pulls her out of the elevator and towards their apartment.

"Get inside." He said as he pushed her through their door.

"I'm so sick of you lying!" He shouts.

"I'm not lying!" She tells him in a loud voice, and he slaps her with such force that she almost hit the floor. She grabs her cheek as the burn settles into her skin and he stares at her. Virginia looks back at him, and turns to walk away, but he grabs her now ponied hair, and pulls her back to him, pressing her front into his.

"Don't you dare make us look foolish in front of the neighbours again." He tells her, grabbing her neck and forcing her to look at him, pushing her cheekbones in, "I wont allow you to act like the slut you are and make us look like a whore house, baby." He spat at her.

"I'm sorry." She gasps, trying to release herself from his grip, he pushes her to the ground, and walks away.

She got herself of the floor and headed to the bedroom, removing her clothes and placing on a small black vest and some shorts. Virginia sat on the bed and opened her laptop, and sighed, before getting herself into the bed and burying herself into the work she had left to do.

Aldrich wondered into the bedroom an hour later, removing his suit.

"We're going to Boston to see my parents on Saturday." He tells her, and she looks at him.

"Really?" She asked curiously, "We never go and see your parents." She says, and he chuckles, nodding his head.

"It's moms birthday, so I thought we could go and surprise her." He says, and it warms her heart how much he cared for his mother.

"That's nice." She smiles, "She'll love that."

"I think so to." He says, hopping into the bed next to her, and placing his head on her chest as she remained sat up, working on the figures she still had to get done.

"Did you manage to get the work with the accountant done?"

"Yeah. He had all the paperwork this time." Virginia chuckles, and Aldrich looks up at her.

"He?"

"Yeah.." She says, looking back at her computer.

"You never mentioned it was a guy." Aldrich snaps, lifting up his head, "Is that why you looked so nice today?" He said, a back handed compliment that she took with a smile.

"No, Aldrich, because I don't think my clothing can turn a man straight." She laughs, and he closes his mouth. "I think him and his husband are very happy together."

"Oh." He says, and laughs, before laying back down, "So, who did you dress that nice for?" He says, running a hand up her side.

"Myself." She shrugs, a smirk on her face, looking at him as he grabbed the laptop. "I'm working." She says, and he drops it onto the floor gently.

"Oops." He smiles, she laughs, "It fell."

"Did it? Damn." She jokes, and he presses a kiss into her neck.

* * *

Saturday morning rolled around, and Tony was coming home from work, when he saw them again, stepping out of the elevator he was waiting for, and he noticed how she staggered slightly, like she'd just been let out of a harsh grip, and his mood dropped instantly as they stepped out, and he threw Virginia a smile.

"Good morning." He says to them.

"Morning." She says.

"Going anywhere special at nine on a Saturday morning?" He jokes, and the look in Virginia's eyes makes him regret it instantly.

Aldrich grabs her arm and drags her, and Tony cant help himself.

"Dude." He snaps, and Aldrich looks at him, "Don't drag her like that. She's not a dog." Tony states to him, and the older man looks at him in a sate of shock.

"You okay?" He asks her, and she nods.

"We're just running late." She says softly, and Tony's eyes catch hers, and he just wants to help her. Get her out of this.

Aldrich is staring at him, and if looks could kill he'd be ten feet under.

"Stay out of our business man." Aldrich snaps at him, and drags Virginia once again, and she follows, turning to face tony as she does and mouths 'sorry'. He winks at her, signalling her to forget it, and she smiles, before turning around.

* * *

They arrived back at the apartment building just after midnight, the day with his parents hadn't gone as planned. His father had started arguing with him, his mother shouting over the both of them telling them to stop, and Aldrich had dragged her into it, and then his father had turned on her. The whole thing was a disaster..

His mood was always hit or miss after seeing his parents, and she was dreading entering the apartment. Would he take it out on her? Or would he just rant, and hold her. She didn't know.

"I mean." He started as he closed the door behind the, "Why cant they just mind their own business?" He said, and Virginia shrugged as she took off her shoes.

"They care about you, they want you to do well, that's all." She tells him calmly. "They weren't that bad tonight."

"Why are you defending them?" He asks her.

"I'm not-" She begins to say, but he doesn't let her finish.

"You know who else is nosy?" He says, "Tony Stark, from upstairs. Acting like he's all that because he's a billionaire, and gave it all up to be humble." He says, and rolls his eyes.

"He was just being neighbourly." Virginia says, "And we don't know why he gave it up. He's never said."

"There you go again." He shouts, "Defend, defend, defend." He wants to argue with her. She wont give him the satisfaction.

"I don't want to argue with you, Aldrich. I'm tired." She says, and goes to work off, but he blocks her.

"I'm tired too, of you and the neighbour whispering behind my back." He spits.

"We've only spoke once without you there, in the mail room."

"Wont tell me what was said though.. will you."

"Nothing important, just small talk." She says, "I told you that."

"I don't believe you." He tells her, and she shakes her head.

"That isn't my problem, now get out of my way." She says, and looks him dead in the eye. He grabbed her neck then, spinning them around so she was pinned against the wall, his face inches away from hers. But she could breath. And so she didn't allow herself to panic. Virginia did what she did on vary rare occasions, and stuck up for herself.

"Careful." She said to him. "Don't want the nosy neighbour knocking on do you." She said to him, and he smirked, pressing harder on her neck.

"Well. Who put a dime in you." He said to her, and she moved her head higher.

"Let go of me." She told him.

He did. And she walked away.


	2. Part 2

After the encounter a few weeks back, Tony had heard nothing from the apartment above, no shouts, no bangs, no thuds, not even a floor creak.  
If it wasn't for the fact that he saw them every now and then in the lobby, he'd think they'd moved.

He found himself thinking about Virginia daily. If she was okay. If she was hurting. He wanted so desperately to help her, to get her out, to make sure that she didn't meet the fate his mother did, that he felt a knot in his stomach almost all the time. But, he always reminded himself that he didn't know anything for certain. He wasn't sure that it was physical, not one hundred percent, mentally abusive? For sure, even the security noticed that, and it made Tony want to kill the guy, but physical? The only evidence he had of that was the suspicious sounds a few weeks ago, and the signs he knew from his mother, the jumpers, the guard she had up, the rehearsed answers. They'd been many moment since the incident that he'd wanted to ask her, to have her know he would believe her, and that he was there for her, but he never knew how to tell her. It was such a sensitive topic and it took so much trust for the other person to be able to open up, and he knew that if he asked and she wasn't ready, or if he was wrong, it could break everything they'd developed. A friendship he couldn't loose. He liked Virginia, she made him laugh, his heart skip when she truly smiled at him on the few rare occasions he'd seen it, and she was beautiful, inside and out, he could tell.

He dreamt of her that night.

Her smile.

Her laugh.

Her happiness.

* * *

Virginia watched from the sofa as Aldrich carried his bag from the bedroom, laughing when he dropped it onto the floor with a thud.

"I hate my job." He sighed as the looked at her, and she chuckled.

"No you don't." She told him, raising an eyebrow.

"At times like this I do." He said, "I hate leaving you." He pouted.

"I'll be here when you get back." She said, walking towards him, placing her hands in his.

"I know." He said to her, his tone possessive. "What will you be doing while I'm gone?"

"Work." She laughed, "I think Nat wants to come over on Saturday as well, but, who knows." She shrugged.

"Sounds lie fun." He smiled, and pressed a soft kiss on her lips.

"I love you." He told her.

"I love you, too."

"I'll call you when I get to the hotel."

"Okay." Virginia replied, and he kissed her again.

"I'll see you on Monday." She told him with a smile, and he picked up his bag and walked to the door, blowing her a kiss before shutting it behind him.

Virginia took herself back to the sofa and sighed, laying her head back, she was almost asleep when her phone rang from next to her.

"Hello?" She answered with a muffled yawn.

"Morning sunshine." Natasha laughed, "You busy tonight?" She asked.

"No... Why?" Virginia asked.

"The club Lizard is opening tonight. I managed to get us tickets. You're coming." Natasha said.

"Nat, I-" Virginia began.

"You promised." Her best friend pouted, and Virginia laughed, "No. I'm not accepting no as an answer. Ever since you got with Aldrich you never come out anymore!" Natasha complained. "What happened to my party girl that bribed her way into bars when she was eighteen?"

"She grew up." Virginia laughed.

"You're twenty two. And your coming. I'll be at yours for nine tonight. Be ready."

"Okay." Virginia replied, giving in, and she heard Nat cheer down the phone.

"See you soon."

The phone went dead, and Virginia sighed, rubbing her eyes before standing and heading to the bathroom.

Natasha rolled up at Virginia's apartment just after nine, letting herself in with a loud, "Hello!"

"I bring beverages." She says, making her way towards the kitchen, Virginia laughed, and dabbed the last little bit of concealer on her wrists like it was nothing. Like it was something everyone had to do, before heading to the kitchen herself. Natasha passed her a glass of wine as she walked in.

"I spoke to Maria and Carol. They're going to meet us there." Nat told her, and Virginia nodded, while taking a sip of her wine, pushing her straightened hair behind her shoulders. "Also I'm crashing her tonight." The black haired girl told her, moving her loose curls out of her face.

"Are you now?" Virginia joked.

"Yes. Because you love me."

* * *

Tony was heading out with Rhodey, sitting in the lobby waiting for the cab when he hears the laugh he would know anywhere.

The laugh he could happily hear for the rest of his life.

He turns in his chair and looks over, and his mouth goes dry once he see's her.

Her red hair is straight and following down her back, a few stands coming down her face slightly, and her dress is a burgundy red colour, that hugs her in all the right places, its V neck, and his eyes wonder to her chest before he blinks, its short, he notices, showing off her long tanned legs, she notices him then, and waves with a smile, and he waves back.

"Dude!" Rhodey shouts, "You there?"

"Huh?" Tony replied as he turned to face his friend.

"Who's the girl?" He asked, and Tony looked at him with a confused look.

"What?"

"The red head you were staring at."

"I wasn't _staring_ at her." Tony tells him.

"Yes you were." His friend laughs, and Tony rolls his eyes. "Who is she?"

"Just someone who lives in the apartment above me."

"She's cute." Rhodey says, taking a sip of his whiskey, and Tony shrugs, trying to downplay it.

"I guess."

"She looks young.." Rhodey says as she gets closer to them.

"She is." Tony says, before then taking a sip of his drink.

"They're coming over." Rhodey says, and Tony swallows his drinks.

 **Be cool.** He tells himself.

* * *

"You've got an admirer." Natasha says, and nods her head to the man sat on the other side of the lobby, who's eyes have been on her since they stepped out of the elevator.

"What?" Virginia says, looking in the direction her friend nodded to, "Oh." Virginia says, and just laughs, before waving in his direction, and smiled.

"Who is it?" Natasha asks.

"Just the guy who lives below me."

"Tony Stark. I know who he is." Natasha says, "runaway billionaire." She laughs, remembering what the headline said a few months back. "You know him?"

"Yeah. Bumped into him a few times, that's all."

"Uh huh." Natasha smirks, "Come on." She says, and grabs Virginia's hand, and pulling her along with her towards the two men.

"Hey boys." She smirks, a twinkle in her eyes, and the two men look up.

"Hey." Tony replies, looking at both the young women, and then at Virginia, "Heading out?"

"Just some club opening." She says, "I'm being forced there." Virginia jokes towards Natasha, who playfully hits her arm. Tony noticed the change in her eyes at that point, a trigger, he guessed. But she played it off well. He wouldn't have noticed it if he wasn't looking at her like he was, like she hung the starts.

"Lizard?" Rhodey asks, and Tony turns to face him and can already tell what he's doing. Natasha nods, "What a coincidence.. that's where were going as well."

"Really?" Natasha smirks, and Tony pierces his lips and shakes his dead, and Virginia chuckles slightly at him. "Well, maybe we could crash your ride there?"

"Natash-" Virginia starts.

"Sure. No problem." Rhodey says, and Natasha winks at him.

The car arrives shortly after the exchange, and the four of them hop in, Natasha and Rhodey climb in first, heated in conversation, and Virginia and Tony step in afterwards, Virginia laughing at Tony's joke about his friend. Natasha looks at her friend and winks, and Virginia rolls her eyes and looks out of the window, her mind racing with just one thought.

If Aldrich finds out, he'll kill her.

* * *

They arrive at the club and the four go their separate ways, the girls head off to find the others, and Tony uses his name to get him and Rhodey in, because, this is definitely not where they were going.

It's over an hour later when they run into each other again. Virginia had gone to the bar, and noticed him sat in a booth, starting at his phone, his brows crossed as he typed. She took her martini with a smile and headed over to him, smiling as he looked up, and she sat next to him.

"Hey." She said, and he smiled at her, causing her heart to flutter slightly. She pushes it down. She can't fall for him. She can't. She has Aldrich.

"Hey." He replies, placing his phone back in his pocket.

"Everything okay?" She asks.

"Yeah." He answers, "Just... work, you know." He says, a little lie, he tells himself, because it was work. It was Obadiah, the company was doing well, but they needed him back, his idea's, his skills. Obadiah had told him about a charity ball that he should attend in a few weeks. He'd think about it. He wanted out of the spot light, that's why he left after all.

"Yeah." She laughs, taking a sip of her drink.

"You having a good time?" He asks her, and she smiles, nodding her head.

"Yeah, actually." She says with a laugh, "Just needed a breather."

"Where's Aldrich tonight?" He asks.

"Away on business until Monday." She tells him, before downing the last of her drink, and he grins at her, and she smirks.

"You look nice tonight, by the way." He tells her, and her small grin makes his heart skip and his stomach flutter.

Her cheeks flush as she places some stands of hair behind her ear.

"Thank you." She says shyly, "You too."

He winks at her jokingly, "Doesn't take much." He jokes, and she chuckles.

"Where's your friend?"

"With a blonde girl when I saw him last." He laughed.

"I've never seen him around before, does he live back in Malibu?" Virginia asks, and he shakes his head.

"No, no." He says, and looks at her, "How did you know I was from-" He begins, but stops when she raises her eyebrow.

"You don't do a three year business degree without learning about Tony Stark." She tells him.

"I'm flattered." He says, a hand to his chest, "But no, he's in the military, he's on leave for a few weeks."

Virginia nods, and meets his eyes, she goes to speak when Nat creeps behind her.

"Hey you two." She laughs, "Come on! The night is young!" She shouts, and grabs both their hands and pulls them with her. As they head to the dance floor, the music gets louder, and so Virginia doesn't hear her phone ring in her bag.

* * *

Aldrich sighs as he hears the her answering machine, and curses. He coughs, and leaves a message for her.

" _Hey baby, I told you I'd call when I got to the hotel, but you must be asleep." He says, and lays on the bed. "I miss you. Really hoped to talk to you. Hope you're not having too much fun without me." He says in a passive aggressive voice, "I love you, and I'll call again tomorrow. Lets hope you answer that one." He laughs, and ends the call, hitting the palm of his hand with the phone as he thought about what she could be doing._

* * *

It was passing half one in the morning when the four of them arrived back at the apartment complex.

All four of them more than buzzed.

They stumbled through the lobby, earning a laugh from Harold, the security, who smiled in Virginia's direction, which Tony found himself feeling a little jealous at, but, he blamed it on the drink and pushed the feeling aside.  
Natasha had hold of Rhodey, both of them holding the other up as they laughed at something one of them had said, and Tony and Virginia weren't far behind them. Virginia had her hand wrapped around his arm, holding herself straight, but he was just as bad as her as they staggered towards the elevator.

"Come on slow coaches!" Natasha shouted as she held the elevator for them, and the two of them sped up, laughing as Tony tripped slightly, and they hopped in the elevator.

"Anyone up for a night cap?" Nat asked the three of them as they rode up the elevator.

"Sounds good." Tony said, "My apartments on the next floor?"

"Great!" Natasha said, and pocked Virginia in the rib cage, and she looked at her, eyebrow raised.

"What?" She whispered, and Natasha nodded towards Tony, who was in conversation with Rhodes.

"It's obvious he lies you, and I can tell you like him." Natasha started, but Virginia rolled her eyes.

"No." She said, turning away from her, "We're friends."

"You used to be more fun that this, you know that right?" Natasha said to her, and Virginia looked back at her as they walked out of the elevator, following the two men.

"What do you mean?"

"You just.. you used to be fun, all about having a good time." Natasha said, "You used to laugh a lot more, aswell."

"I-" Virginia began, but she had nowhere else to take the sentence, what could she say?

"Aldrich changed you, babe, and I don't know... I just want the old you back sometimes. The girl who played strip poker with the guys from the dorm across campus with me so that they'd do our laundry." Natasha said, and they both laughed at the memory.

"I grew up, Natasha. So did you. We aren't those girls anymore." Virginia said.

"I know. But were twenty two, we should be out having one night stands, and making mistakes, and sleeping with the hot billionaire." Natasha said, jokingly, "I'm kidding." She laughed and Virginia eyed her.

"We were doing all of that at seventeen, Natasha." Virginia said, "When we modelled to pay for college." Virginia said, and Natasha just shrugged as they stopped behind the men, and Tony opened the door.

"Wow." Natasha said as they entered, "It's mad how different the lay out of both your apartments are. Everything's... flipped." Natasha said, and Tony looked up, and tried to figure out the layout of their apartment. He assumed that is living room was above theirs, but he finds himself wondering now if it could be the bedroom.

"What's everyone drinking?" Tony asked as he walked to the kitchen, "I have," he started, opening the cupboard, "Whiskey, and... whiskey." He laughed.

"Whisky's fine." Both women said, and he pulls out four glasses. Natasha places herself next to Rhodey and asks him about the military, and if he knows any spies, and Virginia laughs at her slightly. Natasha thanks Tony as he hands her a glass of whiskey, along with Rhodey, and Virginia follows him back into the kitchen smiling a thank you as he hands her a glass, and she leans against the kitchen counter as he does the same, inches away from his, arms touching slightly, but its comfortable, and so neither one of them move.

They began talking about Virginia. Where she works. What her job entails.

"Wow." Tony says, and she laughs shyly, "So I was correct when I assumed you were clever." He told her, and she tilted her head to the side and smirked with a shrig.

"Genius, even." She joked, and he laughed, smiling at her and she swallowed slightly when his smile met his eyes, a little sparkle in the, along with a little mischief.

"Takes one to know one." He jokes back, and she smiles, laughing. His eyes meet hers then, moments before everything changes.

They don't know how it happened, or who made the first move, but their lips are connected. Her hand cups the left side of his face gently as he pulls her into him.

Her mind clicks into place when an imagine of Aldrich enters her mind, and she pulls away.

"I can't." She whispers to him, their faces inches apart, before she moves backwards, looking down and pushes her hair behind her ears.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have-" Tony began, but he stopped, because he didn't know how they ended up like that anyway.

"Its okay." She says, a small smile on her face, and she looks at him, "I should go." She says quietly, and she turns, heading into the living room.

"Nat." She says, interrupting the conversation between her friend and the solider. "I'm gonna' go." She says, "You staying here?" She asks, and Nat frowns slightly at her friends jitters and her mind races.

"What?" Nat says, "No. No. I'll be out in a sec." She tells her, and apologies to Rhodes and stands up, speeding after her best friend that fled like she was on fire.

"Bye Tony." Nat says as she passes him and he waves.

* * *

"Hey!" Natasha shouts as she shuts the front door and speeds to her friend. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. It's just late." Virginia lies.

"Bullshit. What happened?"

"I-" She starts, but stops, and Natasha stops in her tracks and grabs her hand.

"What happened?" Natasha asks, her blood boiling, "What did he do? Do I have to go and beat him up?" Natasha asked, and Virginia shook her head with a smile.

"No. It's nothing like that." She said, and the girls began walking again. "I kissed him. Or, he kissed me." She said in a confused tone, before shaking her head, "We kissed." She settled on.

"Oh my god." Natasha said, smirking, and Virginia groaned.

"No. Hey." She says softly as they wait for the elevator. "It could have been worse. Don't worry about it."

"I have a boyfriend, Nat."

"Yeah. Who you settled down with far too quickly. I told you that the moment you moved in with him last year. You're young. You should be out, living your life."

"You and Steve seem to be getting close." Virginia points out as they enter the elevator.

"Yeah, but.. I still have fun. It's not a whole thing." Nat says as she shakes her head. "Are you sure you're happy with Aldrich?" Natasha asks her, and Virginia looks at her.

"What?"

"I'm just saying.. you and Aldrich have been together for a long time, and I've seen you together, you look happy, but you laughed more tonight than you have in the last three times I've seen you and Aldrich together, and you and Tony seem very comfortable around each other."

"We're friends." Virginia says, stepping out of the elevator and walking to her apartment.

"You kissed him." Natasha says, and Virginia sighs and she unlocks her apartment. "Or he kissed you or whatever."

"It was a mistake." Virginia says, stepping inside.

"Okay." Nat nods, closing the door, "Okay." She sits next to Virginia on the couch, and puts her hand on hers.

"What do I do?" Virginia asks, and Natasha looks at her.

"You move on." Natasha tells her, "You tell Aldrich, or you don't. It's up to you. It was only a kiss."

"It's still cheating."

"Yeah, but... I'm on your side, and I'm trying to make you feel better." Natasha says with a smile.

"Why do I always do this?"

"Do what?"

"Be a disaster."

"Because sister," Nat says, and she holds up their hands, "Its just what we do." She jokes, and smiles when Virginia laughs slightly.

"I left my bag there." Virginia says.

"Get it tomorrow, I'm sure it will have blown over by then."

"Yeah." She says, and leans her head on the back of the sofa.

The two women fall asleep there, and wake up six hours later with a sore neck, a very sore head, and with some fuzzy memories, but Virginia remembers that kiss.

* * *

Virginia goes to his apartment later that day after walking Natasha out, she takes a deep breath as she nods, and her heart skips as he answers, dressed in a black tee and grey joggers, showing of his very muscled arms and his shaped chest and core.

"Hey." He says, and she swallows.

"Hey." She says, " I, er, left my bag here last night?"

He grabs something of the table next to the door and holds it up with a smile, and Virginia pushes down the feeling that smile gives her.

"About last night..." She began.

"Don't." He says. He doesn't want to hear how much she regrets it, because he cant find himself to do so, and hearing her say it will just hurt. "Don't worry about."

"It shouldn't have happened."

"I know. We were drunk. Lets leave it there, and be friends, yeah?" He says, and she nods.

"Being drunk doesn't make it okay though." She tells him, and he looks at her and she can't meet his gaze, her eyes falling to the floor.

"I'll see you." She says, turning around.

"Bye, Virginia." And just like that, she's gone.

* * *

Virginia enters her apartment and sits on the sofa, sighing before checking her phone for the first time since just before she went out last night. and when she see's she has a missed call, and a voice message from Aldrich her heart falls, and she is panicked, she listens to the voice mail, and closes her eyes before ringing him back, and she curses herself when he doesn't answer. and she throws her phone next to her.

 _Why did I kiss him?_ She thinks to herself, _He's a friend. A great friend. How do I always manage to fuck good things up?_ Her mind races, and she rubs her face before standing and getting in the shower.

She's wrapped in a towel on her bed half an hour later, and she is still unable to get her mind of that kiss with Tony. She can't escape it. Every time she closes her eyes she see's the way he smiled at her, the way he looked at her,

The sound of her phone ringing shook her from her thoughts, and she took several deep breaths before answering.

"Hello?"

"Hey!" Aldrich said, "I called last night. Where were you?" He asked her, his tone dull and possessive.

"You called late. I fell asleep." She lied. And she hated that she did. Why couldn't she just tell him she went out with the girls? It's like her mind rejected it, and the lie came out of her mouth instead.

"It was only half eleven." He told her.

"I fell asleep." She snapped.

"Why don't I believe you?" He pondered, and she rolled her eyes.

"Because you never do?"

"Watch your attitude." He warned.

"Stop speaking to me like that, I'm not a piece of shit on your shoe, Aldrich."

"Sorry." He says, and that shocks her,. she doesn't know how to respond to that. "I just miss you. I hate that I'm not with you." He tells her.

"I miss you too."

"How has your day been?" He asks her, and she lays down.

"Busy. I have meeting with the PR department tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's Sunday." He points out, "You never work Sunday's."

"I got called in, I don't choose the days I have meetings." She laughs, and she can feel his rage over the phone, "How was your day?" She asks him.

"The same, meeting after meeting." He says, "Any plans tonight?"

"No. I'll probably just be going through the figures I need to finish for tomorrow."

"I thought you did that yesterday?"

"Nat was here yesterday."

"But you were asleep by eleven thirty?" He questions, and she sits up, her brain working overtime.

"She didn't stay." She told him, hating herself that little bit more as she lied, "She left about half ten."

"To go where?" He asks her.

"Home, Aldrich." She tells him, "Where she lives."

"Huh." He replies, and she releases a breath.

"I'll call you tomorrow okay?"

"You got plans?" He asks her.

"What? No." She answers in a confused tone.

"Then what's the rush?" He asks, "Talk to me a little longer, I'm lonely." He pouts, and she laughs.

"I have work to do, babe." She tells him.

"Fine," He sighs, "Call me later?"

"Sure." She replies.

"I love you." He tells her, and she smiles.

"I love you, too."

She ends the call and lays back down, hating herself, for kissing another man, and for lying to her boyfriend.

* * *

Aldrich arrived back on the Sunday, wanting to surprise his girl with an early arrival. He walked through the lobby and as he went to enter the elevator, he was shocked to see Natasha coming out of it.

"Hey stranger, haven't seen you in awhile!" He smiled, playing the loveable man people knew him as, "What are you doing here?"

"Hey!" She replied, "Jus giving Ginny back the jumper I borrowed when I left on Saturday." She tells him, and he felt himself tense up.

"Oh right. Did you ladies have fun?" He smiled, and Nat laughed.

"Dude. The club opening was unreal!" She told him, and Aldrich felt his blood boil. "You'll have to come sometime." Natasha tells him with a smile. Aldrich held his strong posture, not allowing Nat to know he was unaware of the girls little adventure.

"I'm glad!" He smiled, "Virginia told me all about it the other night." He lies, "I may take yo up on the offer." He said. and she looked at him.

"She told you all about it?" She questions, reading his face, and he scrunched his faced, and that's when she knew he didn't have the whole story. The Tony of the story. So she remained silent, and just smiled.

"What?" Aldrich asks.

"Nothing." She smiled, and he tilted his head.

"Come on. She's probably already told me." He said to her, and she shrugged her shoulders.

"No point me saying then." She smiled, and he went to reply when the elevator dinged, and once he saw the man who existed his eyes rolled.

"Hey." Tony said as he stepped out, "What's with the meeting around the elevator?" He joked, and Natasha looked at him.

"Nothing. I was just leaving." Nat replies, and Aldrich looks between the both of them, before talking once again.

"Just talking about Friday night, Virginia told me they went to a club opening, just getting Nat's side."

"Okay." Tony smiled, and looked at the black haired girl. "I'll walk out with you." He said, and Natasha nodded, and the two of them turned and walked out.

"I think I just dropped Ginny in the shit." Natasha tells him as they walk out of the apartment building.

"Why?" He asked her.

"He said she'd told him everything about that night I was going to ask if she'd told him about you, but I could tell by his face she hadn't, and he wouldn't stop asking.. then you showed up and you knew me and I think he just put two and two together." She explains. "I need to call her." Natasha says.

"Good idea." He nods, and waves her off as she gets into her car, and he heads back inside, not even remembering what he left the building for.

* * *

Tony's heart raced in his chest for the woman he cared for as he headed back towards his apartment. His mind wondered to what he may do to her, he didn't know how he would react, or even if he would be bothered, maybe she's allowed to go out with friends unlike his mother was, maybe the situation is completely different. He hoped that was the case. He hoped everyday that he was wrong, he wanted to be wrong. More than he has ever wanted anything.

"That was quick." Rhodey said to him as he swung open his front door, "Where's the pizza?" He asks, looking at his empty handed friend.

"What?" Tony said, his mind somewhere else, as he rubbed his knuckles together and paced the living room, unsure of what to do. Should he go up there? Would that make it worse?

"Dude!" His friend shouts, and Tony stopped and looked at him.

"What?"

"You okay?" He asks, and tony nods, "Then where is my pizza?" Rhodey questions with a smirk, and Tony pulls out a twenty and throws it at him.

"Go and get it." He says, and takes himself to the bedroom. Rhodey shakes his head before heading out, wondering what the hell is up with that man.

Tony began to pace the apartment, he didn't know what to do, but he had an extremely bad feeling in his stomach.

He couldn't hear anything up there, and he took that as a good sign, and when he heard his front door shut, he told himself to calm down and breath, before sitting on the sofa and accepting the pizza of his friend with a smile, and they clinked their beers, and put the game on.

* * *

Aldrich walked into his apartment and slammed the door shut, dropping his bag to the floor. Virginia came out of the bathroom and smiled, tightening the bobble at the bottom of her French braid.

"I thought you weren't back until Monday!" She smiles walking over to him.

"Thought I'd surprise you." He tells her, and she stops walking, she knows that tone. He walks to her, and wraps her in his arms, "Imagine my surprise when I run into Natasha in the lobby." He says, and Virginia tenses in his arms, her eyes wide.

"You did?" She asks, and he nods, and she steps out of his hold. He lets her.

"Yep." He utters, "Told me all about the fun night you had at the club opening." He says, before looking her dead in the eye.

"Aldrich-"

"Don't even think about lying to me!" He shouts, "You know I don't want you going out without me!" He spits at her.

"I know but-"

"No buts!" He shouts, "You are not allowed without me! I don't like it and you know why! We didn't meet at a nice get together, Virginia! I know what you're like when you're out, whore!" He screams at her, and she feels her self getting smaller and smaller, his words cutting deeper and deeper into her."

"I'm _allowed_ to do whatever I want." She snaps back at him, "I'm not your pet."

He grabs her wrist then, pulling her into him gripping her harshly enough to make her skin burn.

"Was it worth it?" He says through his teeth as he uses a great amount of strength to hold her wrist, to keep hr body trapped close to his. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, actually." She looks him right in the eye, "I did." She tells him, and he lets go of her wrist and slaps her across the cheek, she looses her balance and hits the floor.

"How dare you talk to me like that!" He shouts, grabbing her top and pulling her up, pinning her against the wall, his arm across her chest, holding her there. "Nat said something interesting." He began, but her phone ringing cut him off, he pulled it from her jogging's left pocket and held it up.

"Looks like someone knows they dropped you in it." He laughs, before answering and giving her the phone, and walking into the kitchen. Virginia allows herself to take a few breaths, and answers.

"Hey." She says, looking at Aldrich watching her, "You okay?"

"Shit. I think I just dropped you in it." Nat says, and Virginia swallows as Aldrich walks towards her again.

"What about?"

"The whole thing with Tony." Nat says, and Virginia feels her heart fall, and her face goes pale, she turns quickly.

"What do you mean?" She asks.

"He said you'd told him everything and I don't know... I guess I thought that meant you'd told him Tony was there, but by the way he was looking at me I could tell you hadn't." Nat starts, "And then he kept pushing me to tell him, and I almost got away with it but then Tony walked off the elevator and gave off the impression that he knew me. Which he does. Because he came with us. And I think he put two and two together." Nat finishes. "He won't mind that Tony was there will he? I mean, they seemed okay down stairs."

"No. It's fine. Don't worry about it, okay?" Virginia lies, as she panicked internally. She felt Aldrich's presence behind her and closed her eyes.

"I have to go. I'll speak to you soon. Love you."

"Love you."

Aldrich grabbed the phone, ended the call, and through it on the couch.

"Tony was there was he?" Aldrich asked, and Virginia held her breath, panicking, but refusing to allow herself to show it, and she turned around.

"Yeah. It was a club opening, most people from around here was there." Virginia says with the fakest smile she think's she ever given, and she smiled through every relative she came across at her fathers funeral.

"But you were with him. At the club." Aldrich said, and Virginia made a step to walk away.

"For a little while." She said, "We're friends." She went to walk away when he grabbed the back of her neck, pushing her down.

"You bitch!" He spat, pushing down harder on her neck, and she felt herself panic, the pain on the lines of unbearable as he pressed down harder.

"Let go!" She pleaded, "Aldrich you're hurting me." She said, tears falling down her face.

"And you've hurt me. With the lying, and the secret nights out with the neighbour."

"I only lied because I knew how you'd react! She shouted, and he let her go, and stood up, grabbing the back of her neck, letting the tears due to the pain flow freely. "You proved me right." She spat at him, and he started at her.

"If you would have just told me in the first place, this wouldn't have happened." He told her.

"What would you have done?" She asks, and he walks closer to her.

"I would have been upset, because you went out, and I would have been hurt because you went out with Tony Stark. But, it wouldn't have escalated." He tells her, "But, once again, you cause a scene, and you lie, and you make me act out!" He shouts, "So, once again, its your fault. You really need to learn, baby." He said, placing a hand on her growing red cheek, and stroked it with his thumb. "It's always you who causes it, you deserve everything you get." He says, looking right into her eyes, and he walks away. Leaving her hurt, broken, and a little bit of her falls away on that day, a little bit of her self love, her self worth, vanishes. Her mind screams at her that it is her fault, that she did deserve it, she lied, after all, and she wipes her tears and takes herself to the bathroom, and allows the hot water to fall onto her skin.

He started to win today, and she didn't have the strength left to fight his actions. His words.

She believed them, and allowed her mind to remind her of them as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how we feeling laid ease and gentle mints?   
> Please let me know what you think! Love y'all 3000 :)   
> KUDOS? :p  
> (all mistakes are mine I suck at re reading my own work and I cant spell for shiiiiiiiiiittttt haha)


	3. Part 3

Virginia was sat at her desk, flicking her pen with her thumb as she read through the company's accounts, in her own little world. The knock at her office door caused her to jump slightly, and the person behind it chuckled as she looked up.

"Sorry." He laughed, "Didn't mean to scare you." Her boss said, and she shook her head, a smile on her lips.

"It's fine." He entered her office and sat across from her, and she looked at him, before laughing.

"Everything okay?" She asked, and he took a deep breath, sitting up and looked at her, and she sat back nervously.

"I'm going to ask you for a favour. It's going to seem like I'm using your personal life for professional purposes," He said, and she raised an eyebrow, "Which is only partly true." He joked, "And you can say no. I wont be offended."

"Okay?" She said with a confused tone.

"You're dating Aldrich Killian.." He said, and Virginia smirked before sitting forward, and nodded.

"Yes I am." She confirmed, and he smiled.

"I also have sources telling me you're quite good friends with Tony Stark." Her boss said, and she swallowed, taking a deep breath.

"No." She told him, sitting back, and he looked at her questionably.

"You're not friends with Tony Stark?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"No, I am." She told him, "I'm saying no to whatever your favour is." She said, and her boss sighed.

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask."

"You're going to ask me to ask him why he left Stark Industries, and then ask me to attend the charity ball with Aldrich, because you know the new CEO is going to be there, and that Tony has never missed one. The whole purpose being that you either want the dish on what went on behind the scenes, or you want Stark industries to sign a deal with us, which also puts me in a weird position, because AIM is trying to work a deal with them as well." Virginia told him, a raised eyebrow, and she smiled when her boss sat back, a grin on his face.

"And that is why I hired you." He told her, "How did you know?" He asked her, his grin turning to a look of curiosity.

"Because, why else would you be in my office, asking me about my personal life?" She told him.

"You really don't want to help us out with the deal? We could really use SI as a client."

"I would if it was anyone else, but, I can't. You know that." She told him.

"Because your dating the COO of Aim, another business wanting SI. But, this is your job, what if I told you, you had to do this." He looked at her, and she took a deep breath, "It's your job. I'm sure your boyfriend would understand." Her boss told her, and she chuckled, closing her eyes, shaking her head.

"We need this, Virginia. You know I wouldn't ask if we didn't." He told her, and she looked at him, and sighed.

"I hate this." She told him, "I can't promise it would work." She said, and her boss smiled, "And I'm not asking him why he left. That's personal." Her boss nodded.

"Okay. Do your best, give him this." He hands her a file, "There has to be an offer he likes in there. Read through it, you know him better than I do."

"That's because you don't know him at all, Mr Banner." She joked, and her boss laughed, standing up and heading to the door.

"Thank you for this, Virginia." He nods, "and how many times have I told you, It's Bruce." He smirked. "See you at the ball." He said with a smile, before leaving her office.

Virginia looked at the files, and sighed. She opened it and looked through all the offers, fifty percent this, twenty percent that. Closing the file's she sighed, running a hand through her hair. This whole thing made her nervous. How would Aldrich react when he found out the company she worked for was trying to poach the clients they've been trying to get all year? How would Tony react? Would he think she'd been using him all this time? Buttering him up? All these questions ran through her mind as she put the file in her bag and made her way out of the office.

* * *

"I just don't see how my being at the function is necessary." Tony said to Obie down the phone as he entered the apartment complex, nodding a hello to the security.

"Because, Tony. You're a shareholder in the company-"

"I tried not to be-"

"And, no matter how hard you try to pretend you're not. You are the face of this company. They'll be more questions about why you weren't there, than why you were." Obie told him, and Tony sighed, pressing the button for the elevator. "AIM will be there, so will Bruce Banner. Both want a deal with us, Tony. With you. They want you."

"Me? What about me?" He asked, before he stopped, "Did you say AIM?"

"Yes. They want to work with SI, or, with you." Obie told him, and Tony sighed.

"Fine. I'll be there."

"Good." Obadiah says, "I'll see you on Friday."

"Yeah." Tony said, and he ends the call, muttering under his breath as he did.

"You okay?" A voice laughed next to him, the voice that made his heart flutter. He looked to his left and smiled, Virginia was stood next to him, her hair down, a white jumper on that really brought out the freckles on her face.

"Yeah, just work." He told her, and she tilted her head, "My old work." He said, "The guy who took over, Obadiah, wants me to go to the charity ball on Friday, something about image.. and new deals.." He tells her, and she smiles at him.

"If its any consolation, I'm being forced there as well." She says, as they enter the elevator, and he looks at her.

"Forced? By Ald-" He asks, his eyes wide, and she shakes her head.

"No, no." She shakes her head, "I was already going anyway, but, now I have to go, and work." She says, and he laughs.

"Work? How does a forensic accountant work at a charity ball?" He asks, stepping out as the doors open on his floor, and she smirks at him.

"You'll see." She tells him, and the doors close.

Tony laughs, heading back to his apartment, and once he's in, he opens his laptop, and searches her name, wanting to know if there was more to her job that she told him, what he found caused him to sit back.

_Did you mean.. Virginia Potts model?_

Tony looked at the search bar, before clicking it, and what he saw, he did not expect.

She couldn't have been older than eighteen in any of these pictures, which made him feel very uncomfortable, there were pictures of her modelling clothes for designers , and then just her modelling for magazines. As he continued to be nosy, he noticed some were pictures of her with two other girls, one he recognised as Natasha, was on her left, and then a girl he didn't recognise on her right, who had blonde hair. All three dressed in different types of lingerie, Virginia's was red, she stood out the most, placed in the middle, her eyes staring into the camera, her smile seductive, her hair was blonde he noticed, and he blinked before scrolling down, curiosity getting the better of him, he then saw college headline, that both her and Natasha had got into a fight with a couple of photographers, and that she had pepper sprayed him, leaving the man blind for over six hours, he chuckled at that.

"Pepper spay huh." He laughed, and closed down the laptop, reminding himself to ask her about that when he saw her next.

* * *

Virginia walked into her apartment, dropping her bag onto the table and took her heels off, walking towards the bedroom and throwing them onto the bed. Aldrich came out of the bathroom then, smiling to himself as she took her jumper off, leaving her in only shorts and a bra, he stared at her hour glass figure.

"Hey sexy." He said, and she jumped slightly, turning to face him, and threw her jumper in his direction, laughing.

"You just scared the hell out of me!" She laughed, and he laughed along with her, walking behind her, wrapping his arms around her, kissing her neck.

"You're home late." He says to her, and she turns in his arms. "How was work?"

"Interesting, actually." She tells him, as he pulls her closer to him.

"How so?" He asks, and she swallows.

"Banner Industries want the Stark contract." She tells him, and Aldrich chuckles, biting his top lip, shaking his head.

"And let me guess, you're the person in charge of getting it." He says, and she nods, stepping out of his arms and placing on a large black shirt.

"I tried to say no, but it's my job, Aldrich." She tells him as he paces, removing his tie.

"I know." He says to her, "But you know how important this contract was to AIM."

"I know. I.." She starts, but she doesn't finish, because she isn't sorry, she has nothing to be sorry for.

"It's fine." He tells her, "When are you meeting with Obadiah Stane?"

"Actually... It's Tony, that they want." She tells him, and Aldrich stops, and looks at her.

"Tony? But he doesn't even work at SI anymore."

"I know." She tells him, "It's.. I don't even know what it is, but I have to speak to both Tony and Obadiah on Friday at the charity ball." She tells him, and goes to walk out of the room when he stops her.

"I thought you were coming with me?" He asks her, a light hold on her hand, which makes a change, she thinks.

"I am." She smiles, "I just have to work when I get there. Bruce is going to meet us there."

"Bruce? Your boss?"

"Yeah." She tells him, and Aldrich grips harder on her hand.

"So, your boss, has given you the job of getting closer to Tony Stark?"

"It's not like that. He's just a friend."

"Uh huh." He nods, and lets her go.

"I'm gonna' go for a walk." He says, and Virginia looks at him.

"You okay?" She asks him, and he looks at her.

"My girlfriend is about to ruin my company, while also getting close to the neighbour who obviously has a thing for her.." He says, "I'm fine." He slams the bedroom door shut, and she jumps at the front door bangs shut as well.

Virginia lets out an unsteady breath, and closes her eyes.

"Went better than I thought it would." She says to herself.

* * *

Thursday rolled around, and Virginia is finishing up her packing for Malibu when her phone rings.

"Hello?" She says.

"Virginia. Hi." Bruce says over the phone, "I've just got of the phone with Obadiah for what feels like the millionth time this month, and it looks like its swinging in our favour!" Bruce says, and she can hear the smile he's wearing.

"Really?" She asks, "That's great!"

"All we need to do is try and get Tony Stark to agree, and we have the contract!"

"Obadiah said that?" She laughed.

"Well, not in so many words, no." He says, "But, he said he liked our deal, and thinks it could work. You just need to work you magic and hopefully we will have a new project with SI."

"That's great, Bruce." Virginia smiles, "But Tony Stark doesn't work at SI anymore. He wont be part of the deal."

"That's where you come in my small genius!" Bruce tells her, "You're great at this, Virginia. You could convince someone that they could fly if you put your mind to it." He tells her, and she laughs.

"Like I said, I'll do my best."

"I know you will. I'll see you in Malibu."

The phone call ends just as Aldrich enters the room with his tux.

"Who was that? He asks as he places the tux on the top of his clothing and shuts the case.

"Just my boss." Virginia tells him.

"Huh." He says, and she rolls her eyes before zipping her case, and placing it on the ground.

"We have to leave in two hours, I'm going for a shower." She tells him, and he looks at her, and she exits the bedroom. He'd been off with her ever since she'd told him about Banner Industries wanting the Stark contract. He'd been moody, and ignorant, and Virginia found herself unfazed by it, she was glad actually. Because his reaction could have been a lot worse, and so she takes the positive, and doesn't complain.

* * *

Tony arrives at Malibu, and takes a deep breath as he steps of the plane, he can see the few paparazzi hiding a few yards away, but choses to ignore them, instead, heads towards Obadiah who is stood next to a car, holding in a smile at seeing him.

"You've lost more hair." Tony says as he walks towards him.

"You've gotten greyer." Obadiah says to him, and the two laugh, before embracing one and other with a pat on the back.

"There will be two companies wanting the contact tomorrow night. One, is AIM, but their idea's are lame and not that interesting, but, maybe they will have a better deal when we see the COO tonight."

"Doubtful."

"You know him?"

"Him and his girlfriend live in the apartment above me. It's... complicated."

"The other company is Banner Industries, there idea's and deals look good, but their more of a science company, they created the gamma ray machine, which made them millions, they haven't really managed to top that, but I think if you and Bruce Banner get together, you could create something great."

"So we've chosen Bruce Industries then?" Tony smirked.

"Banner wants you. That's the deal. Fifty percent of everything made, and you."

"Me?"

"To work there, with him. The deal is that you will work at BI until its made, and then help with promotions and things."

"I don't work at SI anymore." Tony says, and Obadiah nods.

"That's what I told him." He says, "He says he'll work on it. That's what he's doing on Friday. Hold me he had a something you can't say no to."

"What?" Tony asked, confused.

"I don't know." He says, and the two of them enter the car.

* * *

Tony shook his head at himself in the mirror as he straightened out his tux he would be wearing to the function. He hated these things, sure, they were for a good cause, but couldn't he just give them a large donation? He had the money.

He turned as his phone rang, and rolled his eyes before answering.

"Rhodey." He said, "To what do I owe the pleasure?" He said sarcastically, but when his friend didn't hit him back with the same attitude, Tony knew something was up.

"He gets out in eighteen months." His best friend tells him, and Tony takes a deep breath. "I just got the call from Obadiah. He was going to tell you himself but.. he couldn't. Said he had a meeting with the COO of AIM or something, but i could tell he just, he couldn't bare it."

"He won the appeal." Tony says.

"He can't get near you, Tony. I won't let him." Rhodey promises him, and Tony chuckles.

"For his sake or mine?" He jokes.

"His mostly." Rhodey jokes back, "I have to go, please, don't do anything stupid. I know you're back in Malibu, but... look after yourself, okay?" Rhodey says, and Tony agrees.

"I'll see you soon buddy."

"Very soon."

The call ended.

Tony removed the tux, put on a pair of jeans and a shirt, grabbed his wallet and took himself to the hotel bar.

Sitting on a bar stool, he orders himself a whiskey. Unable to turn of his thoughts. His father was going to be released from jail two years early. His father killed his mother. He drinks the whiskey, and orders another one.

* * *

Virginia sat on the bed and sighed as she lay on her back.

"I have to go and meet with Obadiah Stane. Something about the contract." Aldrich said, and Virginia sat up.

"Right now?"

"Yeah." He says as he puts on his jacket, "I'll see you later." He tells her, and places a kiss on her head before leaving the hotel room.

Her phone pinged then.

_How's Malibu? Girls night isn't the same without u :( -N_

_Boring! All he wants to do is get the damn contract. -V_

_Fuck him! Go to the hotel bar and get drunk. Tony's there isn't he ;) -N_

_Natasha! Me and Tony are just friends! But, I might take up the idea of the hotel bar... -V_

_Kiss your friends daily do you? -N_

_Shut up_

_And we were drunk_

_and you promised never to use it against me! :(_

_Sorry! Go and have fun! Love you x_

_Love you too x_

Virginia threw her phone onto the side and sighed, before putting her hair down and heading to the hotel bar.

She didn't expect to find Tony Stark there.

"Hey Stranger." She smiled as he turned to face her, and her smile fell when she saw the look in his eyes. "What's wrong?" She asks, sitting next to him.

"Nothing. I'm fine." He says with a fake smile, and she looks at him.

"Tony.." She says, and he looks at her, "You can tell me." Her eyes looked into his, and his felt himself trust her more than he'd ever trusted anyone before.

"I just.. I just got a call that my dad's getting out of prison in eighteen months.." Tony told her, and downed his drink, before ordering them both another.

"Tony.. That's.. that's tough. I'm sorry." Virginia says to him softly, and he shrugs.

"It is what it is." Tony said sadly, and looked at her, "Do you even know what he was arrested for? You couldn't have been any older than two when he was arrested."

"Yeah.. I know. Sort of." Virginia said, "I was never really old enough to understand and by the time I was it was never talked about." She tells him, because she was only two around the time he was arrested, and it never occurred to her to find out what it was.

"What do you know?" He asked her, and she looked at him as she sipped her drink.

"What?" She coughed, shock making her choke on her drink.

"About my father, his arrest. I know you did something in college about me, because you've told me. Did they ever teach you about him?" He asks, and she shook her head.

"No, never." She says, "He's not really spoke about..." Virginia said, and Tony nodded, "I know that he was arrested for killing his wife, but.. that's it." She says softly.

"He beat my mom to death." He says, drinking his whiskey in one, and then hates himself, because he knows how that could trigger the woman next to him, and he turns, and she's drank her drink whole.

"I'm sorry." She tells him, "That must be tough."

"It is." He smiles sadly, and she places a hand on his, and he orders them another drink.

He looks at her then, after telling her about his mother, and he notices that she's pulled the sleeves of her jumper into her palm, and he thinks that maybe now's the time to ask her, to tell her that he's for her, that she'll be okay, but then he thinks that no, it's not. He's drunk, and he shouldn't be drunk for that. It's too sensitive.

"I'm sorry about your mom." She tells him, "Loosing a parent is tough, I.. I can't imagine how it feels knowing it was by the hands of the other one." She says, and sips her drink.

"Who did you loose?" Tony asked her, and she placed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"My dad." She said, looking down at her glass.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"How did he die?" He asked her.

"Heart attack, eight years ago." She said, before drinking the last of her drink. "Then I lost my mom to cancer three years later."

"Damn, that.. I'm sorry." He tells her, squeezing her hand, and she shrugged.

"Like you said, it is what it is." She said, and looked at him, "Sob stories are over." She laughed, wiping her tears with her sleeve.

"Good. It was getting way too depressing! Was about to ask the bartender for a knife and slit my throat." He joked "Another round?" He offered as her mouth stood agape at his words.

"I got it." She said, and ordered them another two whiskeys.

"I googled you." He said, and she looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

"What did you find?" She asks, and he smirks.

"You were a model." He says, and she groans, "No. Hey. You were a very good model." He winks at her.

"It was too pay for college."

"No judgement, you looked good!" He tells her, and she smiles. "Nice use of the pepper spay, by the way." He says, and she places her head on the bar as she fake cries.

"Oh my god." She laughs, and sits up, "It was his own fault." Virginia tells him, and he nods.

"Maybe I should call you Pepper from now on." He tells her with a large grin, and she stares at him.

"Please don't." She laughed, and he shook his head, his mind was made. She could tell.

"I think I will." He said, "It has a nice ring to it." He said, "Hi, this is my friend, Pepper." He said to a woman who was walking past, and Virginia rolled her eyes.

"Jesus." She said, laughing, and he smiled at her. He loved her laugh.

"So, Pepper, what brings you to the hotel bar?"

* * *

It was hours, and far too many drinks later when Aldrich appeared back at the hotel, and he was going to just head to head back to the room and wake up Virginia when he heard her laugh coming from the hotel bar to his left. He turned, and found her sat with Tony Stark, her hand on his arm as she laughed. His blood boiled as he made his way over there.

"No, that's not the point." She laughed, and he chuckled.

"Well, it should be. I personally don't think they're doing their job correctly." He says, and she shakes her head, a smile on her lips.

"What's going on here then?" Aldrich said, and Tony felt the aura around them darken.

"Nothing, just having a drink." Virginia says to him, her smile gone, and her tone nervous, and nothing like the care free one she had just moments ago.

"Yeah.. too many apparently." He said, looking at the six empty whiskey glasses in front of them. "Time to go." He said to her, and she took a deep breath.

"Dude, she's fine." Tony told him, "We're just having a few drinks. She'll come up when she's ready." Tony told him, and Virginia grabbed his hand, and he looked at her as she shook her head. He turned away from them, grabbing a napkin, and he wrote his number down, he looks back up when Aldrich addresses him again.

"Dude," Aldrich said, "I don't think it has anything to do with you. I know what she can and can't handle. I also know that after more than four whiskeys she gets a killer hangover, and she has a meeting tomorrow." Aldrich told him, and Tony looked at Virginia, who was standing. She smiled at Tony, and he winked at her, grabbing her hand gently and placing the napkin inside it, she smiles, putting it in the pocket of her jumper.

"I'll see you round, Pepper." He said to her, and she laughed and turned, walking backwards.

"Goodbye, Mr Stark." She smirked, and turned around, he watched them go, and wished she was still next to him, he found himself missing her presence. He drank the last of his whiskey, grabbed his jacket and called it a night, dragging himself to the hotel room.

* * *

"What the fuck was that?" Aldrich hissed at her as he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards their hotel room.

"What?" She asked, stumbling behind him, and he throws her into the hotel room, causing her to loose her balance and fall onto the floor, she sits up and stares at him, a hand to her head.

"I leave for a few hours and you're off drinking with Tony?" He laughs, and she slowly gets up, the alcohol in her system making her dizzy. "How much have you drank?" He asks her as she stands up.

"Why? Am I not allowed to drink now?" Her head spins, and she knows she's had more than enough, but she won't give him the satisfaction.

"You look a mess." He tells her, cupping her cheeks between his hand, moving her head side to side. "Did you at least have fun with Mr Stark?" He laughs at her, and she pulls her face out of his hold, and smirks at him.

"It was fun, actually." She tells him, and she starts to walk away, but he's faster than her, and he grabs her by the arm, spins her around and throws her on the bed, he grabs her neck tightly as he faces her, looking at her as she tries to breath, her eyes wide. He loosens his grip as her eyes start to fall closed, and slaps her, trying to bring her back round, her eyes open, and he smirks, and puts his face inches away from hers.

"Pull anything like that again, and I will make sure you both suffer." He spits, and gets off her, before slamming the hotel door shut.

Virginia gaps for breath as she sits up, a hand to her neck and tears roll down her face, she quickly grabs her phone of the side and puts in the number. She has to get him out of that bar. If Aldrich finds him, she can't even bare to think about what he would do to him, after what he does to her, the woman he claims he loves. She's goes to ring him, but stops herself, deciding a text is better, she's in no state. He'd only worry and come to her, and he knew too much already.

_Hey. It's Virginia, had a great time tonight. Sorry about how it ended, Aldrich is a little protective. Hope you made it back to your room without breaking anything!_

Virginia wipes her tears and continues to rub her neck as her breathes even out. She stands up and heads to the bathroom, grabbing the glass and running the cold water. Her phone pings as she fills the glass, and she turns off the tap before heading back into the bedroom.

_Hey Pepper ;) I did manage to make it back to my room without breaking anything. Thank you for your concern! And a little protective? The man looked like he was going to carry you out of that bar if you stayed any longer! Hope everything is ok._

_I'm glad, I'd hate for you to have broken bones for your first public appearance in seven months. It would look very unprofessional! Everything's good, I'll see you at the function tomorrow. Try not to sleep through it._

_With you there? I wouldn't be able to close my eyes if I tried. Will your dress be any shorter than the one you were wearing the other night? ;)_

_Goodnight Mr Stark._

_Goodnight, Pepper. Don't go and leak my number, I am very famous if you didn't know._

Virginia smiled slightly at his message, before placing her phone down, and drinking the last of her water. She stood and looked in the mirror, inspecting the redness around her neck. There was definitely finger marks there and she just hoped that the bruise would be hide able with makeup, because she packed three dresses, non of them were turtleneck.

She must have been in bed over an hour, she was half asleep when he stumbled in, muttering to himself about something she didn't care about. She remained still, under the covers with her eyes closed. He flung his belt of, she knew because he heard it hit the chair, and his shirt and pants followed, and he flopped himself onto his side of the bed, and rolled over, looking at her back.

"You awake?" He asked her, she didn't answer, and remained still. He placed a hand on her back, and Virginia applauded herself when she didn't flinch. "I'm sorry for before. I just get angry sometimes, because your mine, and I don't like it when you give men the idea that you're not." He said, and sighed, "But I'm sorry, and I love you. He says, and rolls over.

Virginia wipes her tears, and allows herself to cry silently. He always said that he loved her, so is this what love was? The fighting, and the hurting, and the pain? Because if it was, then she really didn't want to know what would be in store for her if he didn't love her, or if she tried to leave.

* * *

Friday night rolled around, and Virginia was still feeling the headache caused from the night before, she was applying her makeup when her phone pinged. The first message she'd had of him all day.

_Got anything for a hangover? I think I'm dying. Never had one for this long in my life._

_I've got Motrin?_

_Motrin? There's something seriously wrong with giving a grown man Motrin._

_Then I have nothing, sorry._

_You not suffering as bad as me? Are you super human or something?_

_Oh no, I'm suffering, I'm just not a baby and can handle it. I also have Motrin._

"What's so funny?" Aldrich asks as he enters the bathroom.

"Natasha, just talking about Motrin." Virginia lies, and locks her phone, before looking back in the mirror and doing her best to hide the purple bruising along her neck.

"That looks sore." He says, walking over to her, and she meets his eyes in the mirror.

"It's fine." She says, "I've had worse."

"How many times do I have to say that I'm sorry?" He shouts, and she looks away from him.

"I don't know," She says, "How many times have you told me it would never happen again?"

Aldrich grabs her hair and pulls it back, forcing her to look at him through the mirror.

"Don't start that, you're nothing, remember. Don't start acting the big I Am because you've found someone who thinks you're cute." He tells her, "The minuet Tony Stark see's who you really are, he'll drop you like a bag of shit, just like everyone else." He lets go of her hair, and walks away.

Virginia looks at herself in the mirror, and swallows. Aldrich's words repeat in her head as she continues to apply her makeup. She had felt quite good about herself today, her makeup was cute, her dress was sexy... and now, she didn't even want to leave the room, she wanted to get into bed and not resurface for a least a week, but she couldn't, and so she swallowed the lump in her throat, and stood, walking towards the door where her dress was hung, and got herself ready, doing her best and trying to block out the voices in her head, in Aldrich's voice telling her that she wasn't good enough, and that she was nothing.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she took a deep breath. It was a royal blue dress that her and Nat had picked out weeks ago, it was open back, and very low neck. She rubbed where she knew the hand marked bruise was, and sighed, she did a pretty good job at hiding it with makeup, and she had decided to straighten her hair, so that it would be longer, and she could place stands coming down her neck.

The bruise was unnoticeable.

It had to be.

* * *

Tony laughed at the text Pepper sent him, and finished his tie. He sighed when a knock came at the door.

"You're ready." Obadiah said with shock.

"Yes I am." Tony said, walking away. Obadiah followed him in, and shut the door.

"You got anything for a hangover?"

"No."

"Didn't think so. Worth an ask." Tony said, grabbing a glass of whiskey and drinking it whole.

"You heard about your father." Obadiah said, and Tony nodded.

"That I did, Mr Stane." Tony said, "Lets get this show on the road shall we? I'm looking forward to seeing what Bruce Banner has that I can't say no to." Tony changes the subject, and the two men head out of the room. "Maybe it's a cure for my hangover."

* * *

Tony notices her as soon as he walks into the room, she's in a royal blue backless dress, stood talking to a group of other people, and is smiling ear to ear and she talks. His mouth goes dry as he watches her, and when she turns her head, she smiles at him, and he smiles back, before he's pulled by Obadiah.

"Bruce Banner is here, which means he's very serious about this contract with us. Listen to what he has to say, it could be good for us, Tony."

"Working with Banner?"

"Yeah. His idea's are great, and so are yours. Those idea's together? I'm seeing billions."

"I'll listen to him, but I'm not coming back to work for SI, Obie. I can't. Not know."

"Never say never, remember, he has something you can't say no to."

"I can say no, to anything." Tony tells him, "And I will say no."

"Just listen to him, okay?" Stane says as Bruce walks over.

"Mr Stark, pleasure to meet you." He says, and extends his hand, "Bruce Banner." He tells him when Tony shakes his hand.

"I hear you have something I can't say no to?" Tony smirks, and Bruce laughs.

"Not quite yet.." Bruce tells him, and the two begin to talk about the Stark contract, and Bruce's ideas.

* * *

Tony leaves Bruce with a hand shake, and an I'll think about it, and walks away.

He liked Bruce's idea.

He didn't like the fact that it included him getting back involved with SI. He left it behind for a reason.

"How's your hangover?" A voice says next to him, and he laughs as he turns, his back against the bar.

"All better now, Pepper." He says to her, and she laughs.

"Still sticking with the whole Pepper thing, huh?"

"Always." He says to her, and she rolls her eyes.

"I have a confession." She says to him, and he looks at her.

"Go on.." He says, and she smirks.

"Remember when I told you I was here for work," Pepper said, and he nodded, "And you said how does a-"

"Forensic accountant work at a charity ball, yeah, I remember." He tells her, and she smiles.

"Well, I told you that you'd see.." She says, and she turns to him, "Virginia Potts, Banner Industries, care for a chat?" She smiles, and extends her hand, and he stares at her.

"I knew the name sounded familiar." Tony laughed, "You're the something I can't say no to?"

"I could convince someone they could fly if I really put my mind to it." She tells him, and he shakes her hand.

"So.. you're here to convince me it's in my best interest to work at Banners, as part of SI?" Tony asks her.

"I'm hear to help you see why working with us on behalf of SI would benefit both you, and the company, yes." She tells him, and his mind turns then, and he faces her.

"Is that what last night was?" He says, and she looks at him, "Did your boss tell you where I was so you could get a sob story out of me and guilt me into working with you?"

"What? No!" Pepper said to him, "Hey, no, not at all. I was chosen to convince you because it's what I'm good at, and because we're friends. And if you say no I'll accept that, and I'm sure Mr Stane and Mr Banner can work something out." Pepper tells him. "What you told me last night stay's between us, and I hope vies versa." She says to him softly, and he nods.

"I'm sorry, of course. Yeah." He says, nodding, and she smiles.

"Good. Now, the deal-"

"Dance with me." He says to her, and she looks at him with shock.

"I'm not going to dance with you Tony, I'm here doing my job.." She tells him.

"Do your job while dancing with me, come on, one song." He says, and she looks around.

"Tony.. I can't." She says, and he looks at her, before looking to the right of them to find Aldrich staring at them so intensely, that he's surprised there's not a hole in the wall behind them.

"Pepper.." Tony starts, and she looks at him, "It's okay." He tells her, and she shakes her head, before drinking the last of her martini.

"It's business." He says to her, and she smiles, before taking his hand and following him, she makes sure she looks at Aldrich, and he looks at her, she smiles, nodding her head, and he looks away.

They start to dance, and she discusses the pros to working with them on behalf of SI, and she is very convincing.

"You're a great dancer." He says to her, and she looks at him.

"Did you even listen to a word I just said?" Pepper asks him, and he laughs.

"Yes. I'm processing." He tells her, "You're a great dancer."

"My mom... I did classes till I was sixteen.

"You're mom was a dancer?"

"Yeah, a great one." Pepper smiles, and he smiles with her.

"I bet your parents are really proud of you." He whispers to her, and she looks at him.

"Thank you." She whispers back, "I bet your Mom's proud of you as well."

Tony smiles, and the song comes to an end.

"Thank you, Miss Potts. I will think over the deal, and get back to you." He says, and she looks at him with confusion until she feels a hand on her back, and she smiles at him.

"My pleasure, Mr Stark." She replies, and watches him walk away.

Aldrich places a hand on her back and ushers them off the floor and outside.

"Have a nice dance with Tony?" He asks her.

"It was just business, Aldrich." Virginia tells him, "Can we go back inside? It's freezing out here." She says, crossing her arms.

"The two of you looked very comfortable."

"We're friends." She tells him, "Come on, it's cold." She says, heading back inside, but he grabs her arm and stops her.

"I don't like being made to look a fool, baby." He tells her, "I was made to look a fool in there, watching you and Tony Stark dance in front of everyone."

"No one thinks you're a fool. It's just business." She tells him again.

"Everything okay out here?" Someone says from the door, and Aldrich lets her go, and she turns. "Mr Stark and Mr Stane are looking for us." Bruce says, eying the situation, before staring at Aldrich.

"Lets go." Virginia says, walking in front of Bruce, who is still staring at Aldrich, he turns and lets the door shut as soon as she's inside.

"Everything okay?" Bruce asks her, and she smiles.

"Everything's fine, just had a little bit of a disagreement." She tells him, and Bruce nods.

"Ah, there they are." Obadiah says, and Tony turns, and smiles at Pepper.

"Here we are." Bruce says, and looks between the two men.

"I like the deal, and I think we can work well together." Tony says, a grin on his face. "We can talk about this more on Monday in your office, but, the Stark contact is yours." Tony tells him, and Bruce shakes his hand.

"This is going to be great." Bruce smiles.

"I hope so." Tony says, "And I hope to being seeing more of you as well, Miss Potts." He says, and she smirks.

"I'm sure you will Mr Stark," She says, "Considering I work there." She tells him, and he smirks back, nodding his head.

"See you around." Tony says, and she nods, and watches him walk away.

* * *

The ball ends around midnight, and Virginia is talking to a group of women when Aldrich walks over.

"You ready, babe?" He asks, and she nods, saying her goodbye's before heading out of the hall.

"So, Banner's got the Stark contract." Aldrich says, and Virginia nods.

"Yeah." She replies, as they walk to their room.

"You know you only got it because he wants to get into your pants, right?" Aldrich tells her, determined to bring her down.

"If he gave BI the contact, he must want to get in Bruce's pants.. the deal isn't for anything to do with my department. I'll barley see him." She tells Aldrich, who bites his top lip and shakes his head.

"He gives your company the contract, he thinks he gets you. That's all it is." He tells her, and she nods.

"Maybe so, but, never the less, we got the contact, and he doesn't get me. So, I guess I win either way right?" Virginia smiles as they enter the room, "I get a bonus and a rich admirer." She jokes, and he laughs, and looks at her.

"I guess so." He says.

"I'm getting in the shower." She tells him, and enters the bathroom.

He hears the shower go on, and he flings some items of the table in anger and paces. His whole body filled with anger, _why did I not get that contract? Is she sleeping with him? How has she bettered me?_

Her phone pings on the side then, and he looks at it, before walking over and seeing a text of Natasha.

_How was the function? Did Mr Billionaire react the same as he did when he saw you in a dress last time? -N._

His blood boiled, and he sat on the bed staring at her phone, before looking back at the bathroom door, hearing the shower still on, he unlocked her phone, and his anger worsened as he looked through her messages with Tony.

And then her messages with Nat.

_Kiss all your friends daily?_

Kiss?

Virginia had kissed him?

The shower turned off, and Virginia appeared ten minuets later in a pair of shorts and a vest.

"What are you doing?" She asks him as she see's her phone in his hands.

He looks at her, his eyes murderous.

She feels her heart fall through her chest and her whole body fill with nerves.

"What are you doing, kissing Tony Stark?" He asked her.

_**Shit.** _

She thought to herself .

 _ **I'm going to die**_.


	4. Part 4

Virginia looked at him, and stepped back as he walked towards her.

"Well?" Aldrich says to her, "You kissed him?" He asks, and she looks away from him as her back hits the hotel door. "Answer me!" He shouts, banging his hand on the door, inches from her face, causing her to flinch.

"It's... it's not what you think." Virginia tells him, and he laughs, stepping back and pushing his hand though his hair.

"Then what is it?" He asks her, and she swallowed.

"It was after the club opening, and it was.. we we're drunk, and it was a mistake." She tells him, and he looks at her.

"Drunk? You think that makes it ok?" He questions her, and she shakes her head.

"No, I don't, but.. it was a mistake. And it was just a kiss." She says, and he walks towards her.

"Was it?"

"What?"

"Was it just a kiss, or have you been sleeping with him this entire time?"

"No! It was just a kiss. We're just friends." Virginia tells him, refusing to let the tears fall from her eyes.

"Just friends huh.. a friend that you kissed?" He said to her, making a fist with his palm. "If that's all it was then why didn't you tell me?"

"Because.. I- It was just a kiss, and it was never going to happen again and I just... I didn't want to hurt you." She stuttered, and he stared at her.

"Didn't want to hurt me?" He asks, "If you didn't want to hurt me you wouldn't have done it in the first place." He tells her, "Must have wanted to do it, to kiss him, being drunk.. doesn't change that." He tells her, and her phone pings in his hand, and she looks down at it, and attempts to grab it, but he's faster than her, and grabs her wrist, twisting it and she gasps in pain.

"Oh look. It's from our new friend Mr Stark." He says, and Virginia does her best to get her arm from his grasp. "Thanks for the dance, Pepper. Maybe you could teach me a few more when we work together.." Aldrich reads aloud, and he grabs her wrist tighter.

"Pepper?" Aldrich asks, and looks at her, "Why are you Pepper?" He asks her, pulling her up and letting her wrist free from his grasp.

"Because he saw the pepper spay thing, it's a joke." Virginia tells him, and Aldrich laughs.

"A joke? So not only are you kissing him, your making inside jokes?"

"It's not like that." She tells him, and he looks at her.

"Who kissed who?" He asks her, and she looks at up with confusion.

"What? Why?" She questions.

"Who kissed who?" He shouts louder, and she flinches. She watches as his hand raises, and says the first thing that pops into her mind.

"He kissed me." She rushes out, and his hand falls to his side, before he pushes her away from the door, throwing her to the ground, and goes to march out of the door. Her heart rate increases, and she feels physically sick at the thought of what he would do to Tony, considering what he does to her. The woman he loves.

"Wait." She says, and he looks at her just before opening the door. "I kissed him." She says in a quiet, soft voice, and he turns to face her.

"So you kissed him, and then lied about it?" He asks her, walking towards her once again. All she can do is nod her head. Aldrich pulls her up by her vest and pins her against the wall to their left with a thud, and she feels lightheaded as her head bangs against the wall with force. He wraps his left hand around her neck as he forces her to look at him, his face is inches from hers.

"You little whore." He whispers to her.

"I'm sorry." She says quietly, and he laughs in her face.

"Hmm," He says, "You're going to be." He tells her, rage written all over his face, and takes a deep breath. "Hoe many times have I told you that I wont tolerate being made to look a fool by you, and the way you act!" He shouts in her face.

He punches her stomach, hard, twice, knocking the wind out of her as she struggles to breath and she falls to the ground. He grabs her by her hair and pulls her up, looking at her, he slaps her then, and the force knocks her into the cabinet on her left, she hits the ground once more, coughing as she continues to struggle for breath. He crouches down, and grabs her face, forcing her to look at him.

"This is what you deserve." He tells her while looking at her dead in the eyes, and he wipes the tear that falls from her eyes. "We will deal with this when we get home." He warns her. He drags her up then, and throws her onto the bed, before storming out of the room.

The slam of the door made her flinch, and she stares at the celling, and lets her tears fall. She slowly moves herself under the covers, and grabs her phone, her breath coming out as wheezes. Where was Aldrich going? Was he going to Tony? Where was Tony? She looked at his text, and hit reply. Staring at the blank text, she wondered what she could even say.

 _Aldrich found out about the kiss, you should stay somewhere else tonight_. No, she couldn't send that. He'd just come to the room.

 _Are you still at the hotel?_ No. She couldn't send that, it would be too suspicious.

Virginia held her breath as she heard the door open again, and she wrapped herself in the covers, and closed her eyes, facing away from the door, phone under her pillow in her hand.

"Baby.." Aldrich said in a soft voice, sitting on the bed. She didn't respond. Fear freezing her in place.

"Virginia!" He shouted, and she flinched, before sitting up, and looking at him.

"You're not allowed to see Tony Stark anymore." He told her, and she sat next to him.

"He'll be working at the company." She told him.

"Then you quit." He told her, "You are going to tell Tony that you want him to leave you alone. You're not going to have anything to do with him." He told her, and Virginia went to speak, but he carried on. "If you don't, I'll make sure he's unable to bother you, or anyone else, ever again."

"What do you mean?" She asks him softly, and he looks at her.

"I can very easily get rid of a man that already said he wants out of the lime light. People will just think he's gone off the radar. Just like that, he's no longer a problem."

Fear set in Virginia's gut, and she felt sick at the thought of it. And, so she nodded.

"Okay." She said, and Aldrich nodded, placing a kiss on her temple and heading to the bathroom.

Virginia waited until the sound of the shower came on, before muffling a sob with her hand.

She liked Tony. She liked being around him. He made her feel safe, and giddy.

But she'd rather have him safe and a stranger to her, than in danger and close to her.

* * *

Virginia woke up the next morning and her whole body ached.

Her arms.

Her ribs.

Her side.

Everywhere.

She stood slowly, and walked towards the bathroom, and shut the door. She lifted up her vest, and hissed at the bruises and marks on stomach and side. Her wrists were also bruised, and her left eye had a bruise over it. Virginia shook her head at herself, and left the bathroom.

"Hey." Aldrich said, and she jumped slightly, "I thought you left for a moment then." He laughed, and she threw him a fake smile.

"No." She said softly, "Just went to the bathroom."

"You okay?" He asked her, and she nodded, before placing on a large jumper.

"Yeah. Just tired." She old him, "We have to be out soon." She tells him, and he nods.

"The flight is at ten forty, we should leave in about an hour." Aldrich tells her, and she smiles sadly as he walks towards her. Her whole body tenses as he gently touches the bruise over her eye.

"Remember, you're cutting ties with Tony today. He's not good for you." He told her.

"I know." She told him, unable to meet his eyes. She walked away from him then.

"What's the problem?" He asks her.

"Nothing. I'm just tired." She lies, and he laughs bitterly before getting himself ready.

Virginia puts on a pair of leggings and some large blackout sunglasses, before grabbing her case and following Aldrich out of the hotel room.

"I'll put the cases in the car, you sign us out." Aldrich said to her, and she nodded, before heading to reception.

She gave back the two door keys with a smile, and turned to head out of the hotel when Tony appeared by her side.

"What's with the shades?" He laughed, and she smiled, but didn't look in her direction. "Strange fashion statement for a day like today, don't think the sun can get through the amount of clouds up there." He jokes, but he gets nothing from her, and his whole body fills with worry.

He places a hand on her arm gently, stopping walking as they reach the exit of the hotel, and she looks at him,

"What's wrong?" He asks her, and she shakes her head.

"Nothing." She tells him, crossing her arms over her front.

"What's with the shades?" He asks again, and she shrugs. "Heavy night?" He once again tries to joke, but still, nothing.

"Something like that." She replies, and he looks at her.

"Hey, look." He says to her softly, taking her hand into his, "I told you about my Mom, what my Dad did to her.." He began, but Virginia shook her head.

"Don't." She whispers.

"I know it may seem like you're trapped, okay. But you're not. Talk to me, Pepper." He says, and she shakes her head.

"You don't know what you're taking about." She snaps at him, and the look on her voice makes her heart break. "I'm fine, just, stay away from me, okay? And stop calling me Pepper." She tells him harshly pulling her hand from his, and he steps back.

"What the hell was that?" He asks her, and she shakes her head.

"I just... leave me alone, okay? You keep trying to get involved with things that have nothing to do with you." Virginia snaps, "Just stay away from me, Tony." She tells him. He doesn't respond, and she walks away, her head down as she holds in her tears.

She misses him already.

And she hates that she misses him.

* * *

Tony stands in shock as he watches her get into the car with Aldrich, and drive off.

"Hey, you ready? The flight leaves soon." Obadiah says, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah." He says, his mind still trying to process his encounter with Pepper.

"I want daily update's about what's going on at Banners." Obadiah says. Tony nods in agreement. They reach Tony's car and Obadiah looks at him.

"You alright?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'll see you round, Obie." Tony says, Obie nods in response, before watching him drive away.

Thoughts race through his mind during the drive to the airport.

_What had changed since last night? I thought we were friends? Was she okay?_

Different questions ran through his mind, his whole body full of nerves, unable to shake the uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. The shades she had on didn't help worry pit in his stomach, the only time's hid mother had wore shades was when his father had given him a black eye, and that made Tony want to be sick. Had him dancing with her last night led to this? Had he caused the fight they may have had? His mind wouldn't quiet down during the whole drive there, and it only got worse when he saw them in the airport, and she didn't even look in his direction. Did she blame him for whatever may have happened last night?

* * *

Virginia was on edge the moment that they arrived at the apartment complex, she knew whatever Aldrich had held back in the hotel about his new found revelation, was going to come down on her the second they entered the apartment.

She walked behind him slowly as they made their way to the apartment, her head down.

He held the door open for her, and closed it behind him, she headed straight for the bedroom, removing the sun glasses she'd been unable to take off, and her eyes ached as they adjusted to the light in the room, she felt herself getting a migraine, and wondered for a moment that she may had gotten a concussion when she hit her head on the wall last night.

"Baby," He said as he enters the room, and she takes a deep breath before turning to face him, "I thought I told you to cut ties with Tony Stark?" He said to her, and she crunches her eyebrows together.

"I did." She told him, and he laughed bitterly, walking closer to her, shaking his head.

"Then why is your boss texting you about the meeting with him and Tony on Monday?" Aldrich asks her, tilting his head to the side. He stops walking when he reaches her, steps away from being toe to toe.

"That's work, Aldrich. I have no control over that." She tells him.

"I thought he wasn't working within your department?" He questions.

"He isn't. I don't know why I'm being asked to go to that meeting." Virginia explains, but she can tell on his face he doesn't believe her.

"Tell me the truth." He says to her, "Why did you kiss him?"

"I don't know." She says honestly, because she doesn't. Was it because she made him feel safe? Was it because he made her feel happy, and easy, like she didn't have to walk on egg shells around him? Or was it because she had fallen for him? The last one shocked her, and she closed her eyes, refusing to accept that. A hand hits her face then, and she's shocked out of her thoughts.

"Go and get the mail. We've been gone awhile." He tells her, and she darts from the room, grabbing the shades from the side, and putting them on before heading out of the apartment.

She got to the mail carrier, and sighed, closing her eyes when she saw him stood there, getting his own mail as well. She decided to walk in, and act like she didn't see him, and it killed her, she wanted to talk to him, to hear his laugh. She wanted him in her life, but it was too much, and she didn't want to anger Aldrich anymore than he already was, not when he could hurt Tony as well.

"Still getting the silent treatment, huh?" He says to her, and she takes a deep breath, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Fine." He said, sighing, and he walked away. Virginia released a breath, and quickly wiped a tear she felt fall down her cheek, refusing to allow it to get to her. She'd only really known him for a month, she shouldn't be this heartbroken ending the friendship. It shouldn't be this painful.

"No, you know what?" Tony said as he marched back into the mail room, and Virginia jumped at his sudden reappearance. "I thought we had something.. you know. I'm not sure whether it was friendship, or maybe something a bit more, but we had something." Tony told her, and she looked down. "I don't understand why you're suddenly telling me to stay away from you, I haven't done anything wrong, Pepper!" He says, "I deserve an explanation." He says, his voice louder at the end of his sentence.

"Tony, please.." Virginia says to him, crossing her arms.

It dawns on him then, what's going on, and his blood boils.

"I knew it." He says, and shakes his head with a bitter laugh, and she looks up. "I asked you, if this whole thing was just to get the deal, and I believed you when you said it wasn't." He tells her, and Virginia feels her heart shatter in her chest at his tone, it was hurt. "But it has to have been, you can't just drop someone the way you're dropping me and acting like they don't exist unless it was fake right from the beginning," Tony snaps, "I opened up to you, Virginia." He says to her, and the way he says her name, with such hurt and betrayal, makes her want the ground to swallow her up. "I opened up to you in way's I never do. I told you about my mother, about her death. I never talk about that. Ever." Tony tells her, "But I told you, because I wanted to help you, to let you know that you aren't alone, and that you can walk away and that you aren't stuck." He tells her, "Turns out you were just using me anyway." Tony finishes, and goes to walk away.

"Tony!" Virginia says, and he turns to face her, "I wasn't using you." She tells him, "If you walk away from this and never speak to me again, I get it, I do." She says softly, "But know that I wasn't using you. What we had was.. it was real, Tony." Virginia tells him, and he walks towards her.

"Then why are you pushing me away?" He asks, "What changed so much since last night that you want me to stay away from you?"

Virginia shakes her head, and looks down again, and she can feel his presence in front of her.

"Let me help you, Pepper." He says, "Before it's too late." He touches her face, and she moves out of his touch, looking at him through the large shades on her face.

"What did he do?" He asks her gently, but she just shakes her head.

"Nothing." Virginia tells him, and he swallows the lump in his throat.

"You don't need to hide it from me, okay?" He tells her, a finger under her chin, lifting her head up. "I don't think it makes you weak, or small." He says, "And you don't deserve this. No one ever does." He tells her.

He places a hand on her cheek then, wiping the tear he can see falling.

"If you ever need anything, you are always welcome to come to me, and we can talk about this when you're ready." Tony tells her. "But you aren't stuck here, Pepper. You can leave." He tells her, and kisses her forehead.

"I have to go." She says softly, leaning into the hand on her cheek, "Thank you, for everything."

"You're going to be okay." He tells her, and she nods, "I'm here for you."

Virginia looks at him then, and her heart speeds up at the look on his face, it's not pity, or fear, its admiration, and love. Something she hasn't seen in a person's eyes in awhile.

She kisses him then, its slow, and gentle, and she brings her hands to cup his face softly, but she ends it just as fast, and walks away quickly, leaving him behind.

* * *

Virginia opens the apartment door, and leans against it, taking deep breaths.

She'd kissed him. It felt right. But now she stood in the apartment, she was filled with dread, and anxiety, and all she wanted was to run to the apartment below her, and be in his arms, where she felt safe, where she felt wanted.

"Took you long enough." He says as he exits the bathroom, "Where's the mail?" He asks her, and she looks at him.

"I-" She starts, but doesn't continue. _Shit._ She thinks.

"Did you even go to the mail room?" He accuses as she walks into the living area.

"Yeah, I just... forgot it." She tells him, and flinches at her own words.

"How do you forget mail in the mail room?" He asks her, following her into the living area. "Where were you?"

"In the mail room." Virginia tells him.

"You were with Tony Stark." He says to her as she throws the sunglasses onto the table, she looks at him.

"No I wasn't." She lies, and she knows he can see through it.

"Liar." He says, and stands in front of her, "Did your face fall into his again?"

"Aldrich-" She says, closing her eyes, pinching her finger and thumb in her tear ducks. She hasn't got the energy to fight him. She was tired. Her head was banging. Her ribs were killing her. She just wanted to go to bed.

She didn't hear him get closer to her, and so the hand around her neck really shocked her.

"I told you what would happen if you saw him again!" He shouted, walking backwards with a hand on her neck, and threw her against the wall, his hand tightening around her neck as her head banged against it. Virginia began to panic as she struggled for breath, her head throbbed due to the lack of oxygen. Virginia began to squirm in his hold, grabbing his wrists, trying to push them off her neck, he held tighter then. She looked to her life and saw a ornament, she stretched her arm out, and quickly grabbed it from the side, whacking him over the head with it. The item dropped to the ground, and so did the both of them. Aldrich fell to the floor, holding his head, and Virginia slid down the wall, coughing as she tried to catch her breath, her body was in a state of shock and panic as she breathed, and with one look to her left at the man on the ground, Virginia stood and ran. She could hear him get up as she reached the front door.

"You bitch!" He shouted.

As she opened it, he was behind her, slamming it shut and spinning her around. His eyes were staring at her with rage, and there was blood falling down the right side of his head.

"Where we you off to in a rush?" He asked her, and she tried to walk away from him but he grabbed her and held her in place.

"Let me go." She told him, her voice rough and dry.

"Why? So you can run into the arms of Tony Stark?" He asked her with a laugh. Virginia pushed him off her with force, and as he stumbled back and landed on the floor, she took her chance, and turned to open the door, but he grabbed her ankles, and she fell front first, and he pulled her backwards. She struggled against him as he grabbed her.

"Let go of me!" Virginia shouted, trying to push him away from her as he stood them up. He grabbed her hair and dragged her up to face him, before throwing her into the wall behind her, earning a harsh cry from her as her back hit the wall. Aldrich began to pace the apartment, muttering to himself. He threw his hand across the table, and everything on there hit the floor, Virginia flinched at the action.

Virginia quietly began to walk towards the front door, she was almost there when the floor creaked, and he stared at her.

"Where are you going?" He asks her, anger in his posture.

"Nowhere." She lies, and he walks towards her.

"I'm getting really sick of your lies now, baby." He says, Virginia looks towards the floor, but her eye catches on what's in his hand, and she feels her heart drop and fear set in her gut. He continues to walk towards her, and he places the item on the table, and she releases a deep breath.

"I wasn't going anywhere." She says again, and he stops walking when the sound of her phone ringing fills the apartment.

"Something you want to tell me?" He says, holding her phone up to show that Tony was ringing her.

"No." She says, "I don't know why he's calling." She tells him, and he shakes his head, declining the call.

"Is he bothering you?" Aldrich asks her.

"What? No." She says, worry in her voice, and he nods.

"If you told him to leave you alone, and he isn't, that him bothering you."

"It's fine. Honestly." She tells him. '

"No it isn't." He says to her, and goes to walk past her, and she panics, grabbing his hand as he reaches the front door.

"Aldrich. Leave it. Please." She tells him, her voice is panicked and he sighs.

"Why should I?" He tells her, "You're my girlfriend, and he isn't getting the message."

"Because I'm asking you to." She says, "Please, just leave it."

"Is this because you have feelings for him?" Aldrich accuses, and she drops his hand as he steps away from the door.

"No." She says, walking away form him.

"Don't walk away when I'm talking to you." He snaps.

"You're not talking to me, you're accusing me." She snaps back.

"It's not accusing if I'm right."

"But you're not right." She tells him.

"Then why don't you want to go downstairs and give Tony a piece of my mind about bothering you?" He asks her.

"Because he isn't bothering me." She tells him.

"So you're still talking to him?"

"What?" She sighs, getting tired of the same old conversation. Her throat her. Her head hurt. Her ribs hurt. Her back hurt. She just wanted to lay down.

"If his calls mean that he isn't bothering you, then that must mean that you never asked him to leave you alone. That you're still talking to him. Even though I specifically asked you not to." Aldrich said, and she rolled her eyes. "Did you see him in the mail room? Is that why you forgot the mail?"

"I-" She starts, "Yeah. He was there." She says.

"Did you talk to him?" He asks her, and she looks to the ground.

"Kind of, he asked why I was ignoring him." Virginia tells him.

"And?" He asks. "What else."

"Nothing." She lies.

"You kiss him again?"

"No." She says.

"Look at me when you say it!" He shouts, and she meets his eyes. "Did you kiss him.. again?" Aldrich asks. She doesn't respond. She can't lie when looking into someone's eyes, she's never been able to.

"You little slut!" He shouts, knocking over a chair, and runs to her in a blind rage, grabbing her by the neck, she gaps, and he lets go of her neck and looks down.

_Shit._

"Shit." He says softly, and holds her close as she falls to the ground.

He looks at the stab wound in her gut, and then back at her face.

"I'm sorry.. I-" He starts, and looks back at the knife, and he flinches as he pulls it out.

"Baby," He says, looking at her, hand on her face, "I-" He begins, but stops himself, and looks around the apartment as he hears someone open the door. He runs into the bed room, and shuts the door, leaving it open slightly to see who comes in

Virginia watches him run, and places a hand on her wound, she can feel it pouring out of her, and it _hurts._

 _This is it._ She thinks. _This is the end_. Her eyes fall closed as she looses consciousness, her world goes black. The last name on her mind being Tony.

* * *

Tony doesn't know how long he was stood in the mail room staring into space, but it had been awhile.

 _She kissed me._ He thinks to himself. _Why did she kiss me?_ He thinks.

He heads back up to his apartment, and shuts his door, leaning against it, taking deep breaths.

His thoughts are filled with Pepper. Her smile. The way she danced with him. The sunglasses. The kiss. The two kisses.

He is jumped from his thoughts by the slam of a door, followed by another slam on the wall, and his heart beat quickened in his chest, and he pulled out his phone and dialled her number.

Voice mail.

Tony looked at the phone, and then the ceiling, and took deep breaths when there was no other sound. He took comfort in the silence, before his thoughts were taken to the night his Mom died. There was a few loud bangs and then silence the night she had died.

_Was Pepper okay?_

_She hadn't answered her phone, should that worry me?_

He didn't know what to think, but his gut won in the end, and he headed to the apartment above them.

He pressed the elevator, fidgeting nervously, and he sighed, before running for the stairs, deciding he didn't have time to wait for it.

* * *

Tony reached the apartment, and held up his fisted hand to knock when he noticed that the door was open ajar, and his heart fell into his stomach.

He opened it, and the state of it made him feel sick. There was stuff all over the floor, a knocked over chair, and a few dents in the wall.

"Pepper?" He said, walking in. "Pepper?"

He walked further into the apartment, and looked towards the living room, and his heart broke.

She was lay there, a pile of her own blood beneath her, and he ran to her.

He knelt down next to her, and gently placed a hand on her cheek, rolling her head to look at him.

"Pepper?" He said, "Come on, I know you're still with me. Open your eyes." He said, before placing two fingers on her neck. He felt physically sick at the red hand marks around her neck, but he felt himself release a breath when he felt her weak, but there, pulse.

"Pepper, please. Open your eyes." He said while pulling his phone from his pocket.

"I need an ambulance, please." He said, his eyes on Pepper. "My.. friend. She's been stabbed."

* * *

Virginia could hear him talking, could feel his gentle hand on her face, and she used all her strength to open her eyes.

"Hi." He said, smiling sadly at her, "The ambulance is on its way, you're going to be fine." He tells her, and she nods slowly. "Did Aldrich... did he do this?" He asks her, and her eyes fall closed again.

"Hey, hey." He says, patting her cheek softly, her eyes open, "Stay with me, okay?" He asks, "Can you talk?"

"He- He knows." She says in a low voice.

"Who? Aldrich? What does he know?" He asks.

"About.. the club open- ing, and the... mail room.." She says, and he nods.

"Is that why he did this?" He asks her softly, her eyes flutter closed, Tony feels nothing put panic. "Stay with me, okay? You're fine." He said to her as her eyes opened with a sad smile.

"You.. need to go." She tells him, he looks at her with confusion.

"I'm not leaving you." He tells her, his thumb wipes her tears gently, as she shakes her head slowly.

"Please.. Tony." She says, and looks in his eyes, he see's pain, and worry. "He's in the bedroom." She whispers, and he slowly turns his head.

"Okay." He nods, "That's okay. I'm not leaving you here." He states, and he leans into the hand that's on her cheek, closing her eyes. Her eyes open slowly when she hears someone walk out of the bedroom, and she wants to move, to protect Tony, but she can't. The pain in her gut is too much, she feels drowsy, and tired.

"Tony." She says, and he looks at her. Virginia's eyes wonder behind him, and he turns his head, and misses the thrown ornament by inches.

"Well, well, well." Aldrich says as Tony stands up, long at Virginia with a nod. "If it isn't the man who caused all of this."

"You were hurting her long before I came along." Tony tells him, "This is all on you buddy."

"No." Aldrich says, shaking his head, his hands trembling, the bloody knife in his hand. "No." He shouts. "You did this!" Aldrich screams, and Tony jumps slightly unexpectedly at the tone.

"You need help, Aldrich." Tony tells him, "You stabbed her."

Aldrich shakes his head, and holds up the knife, pointing it at him.

"Because of you!" He shouts, "Because you.. you're everywhere, all the time. She was mine!" He shouts, "And you tried to take her from me."

"No I didn't." Tony says, "I was just being a friend." Tony tells him, even though he doesn't believe his own words.

"A friend?" Aldrich shouts, "You kissed her!"

"But was this really the answer to your problems?" Tony asks him, looking back at Virginia, who lay unconscious.

Aldrich charged at him then, and Tony turned to his left slightly, and grabbed him, forcing him to drop the knife and fall onto his back.

The door opened then, and three paramedics ran in, along with two police officers.

"Patient's unconscious, but breathing." One of them say, as the lift her onto a gurney.

"Will she be okay?" Tony asks as they push her out.

"We will do our best sir." One of them replies, before they're gone.

He'd wanted to go with them, but the officers had blocked him from moving.

"That's him. He did it." Aldrich shouts, and Tony shakes his head.

"He's been hurting her for I don't even know how long. He needs help." Tony says to the officer, who is stood between the two.

"Found the knife." One of them says, picking it up, and placing it into a bag.

"You'll both be coming in for questioning." The officer says, and the two of them are handcuffed and took out of the apartment.

* * *

Heading into the lobby, Happy runs to them.

"Sir I'm going to have to ask you to take a step back." One of the officers say.

"I saw Virginia getting taken out. Is she okay?" He asks Tony, who shrugs.

"What the hell did you do!" Happy shouts, charging at Aldrich, but he is pulled back by another officer.

"Sir, take a step back."

"Call Natasha, I'm not sure what her last name is. You know her right?" Tony says as he's pulled across the lobby.

"Yeah. Black haired girl. On it." Happy says, and Tony nods, and then he's out of the complex, and into the back of a police car.


	5. Part 5

Obadiah was sat in his office, sorting through paperwork his assistant had left on his desk for him to sign, when his attention was brought to the news on the TV across from him.

**"Tony Stark, former CEO of Stark Industries arrested outside apartment complex in New York. Details on his arrest are unknown, but locals say he, along with COO of AIM, Aldrich Killian, were involved in the stabbing on a young woman, who was seen rushed into an ambulance not two minutes before."**

"Tony what the hell have you got yourself dragged into?" Obadiah says to himself as he calls a lawyer, making sure this was controlled.

* * *

Tony was sat in a interrogation room, hands tapping on the table as they waited for someone to come in. His whole body was tensed with worry for Pepper. He didn't even know if she was okay. He needed for her to be okay. He needed to get out of here.

It must have been over an hour in there when two officers came in, and sat in front of him.

"Mr Stark." One of them said as they pulled out a notepad. "We will just be asking you questions about the event that occurred in apartment 4A in the apartment complex in Central Park south." The officer told him, and Tony sat up.

"Is she okay?" Tony asked, and the two officers didn't react.

"We are not in liberty to talk about that, I'm afraid." The officer on the left told him, and Tony sighed. "You didn't take up your right for a lawyer, correct?"

"I don't need one. I didn't do it."

"When you arrived at the apartment, what did you see?"

"The place was a mess, a chair was flipped, items were all over the place, and then P-, Virginia, was laying on the floor." Tony told them.

"And when-"

"My client will not be answering anymore questions." A man said as he entered the room, and sat next to Tony.

"What the hell are you doing here, Fury?" Tony asked.

"Saving your ass. Again." Fury said, and Tony shook his head.

"Can I have a few minuets with my client?"

"Of course." And the officers left the room.

"What the fuck have you gotten yourself into?" Fury asked him, banging his hand on the table.

"I didn't do it, Nick." Tony told him, and Fury sighed.

"What happened? Talk me through it."

"It's a whole thing, its complicated. But, I walked in today and found her, and then him with the knife in his hand."

"How do you know them?"

"They live above me."

"Are you close with them?"

"I-" Tony began, "It's.. complicated, like I said." He told the lawyer, and Fury sighed, before signalling the officers back in.

"I got this." Fury tells him, and Tony shakes his head.

"Mr Stark, Mr Fury." The officer says as he walks back in and takes a seat.

"These are pictures of the scene." He says, and places photos on the table. "Is this the state it was in when you walked in?"

"Yeah." Tony nods, "And that patch of blood there is where she was lay."

"What made you go into the apartment?"

"I heard some suspicious noises, the walls are quite thin."

"Okay," The officer nods, "And have you known the couple long?"

"I've gotten closer to them, over the last month." Tony tells her.

"Both of them, or just Virginia?" The officer asks, "Because, Mr Killian is telling us that you and Virginia have been having an affair for the last month, and when she ended it with you to stay with him, you flipped out, and stabbed her.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Is that not true?"

"No!" Tony shouts.

"Which part? The affair or the stabbing?"

"Both!" Tony defends.

"If I may.." Fury says, and the officers nod.

"Was my clients DNA found anywhere in the apartment?" Fury asked, "Or on the knife used to stab the young woman? Because, the state of these pictures show that many objects were thrown, flipped, and damaged. That would leave DNA all over the place, would it not?"

"The scene is still being investigated, we will have DNA samples shortly."

"And the knife? Have you found my clients DNA on that? Because if he was to stab her, his DNA would be on that, would it not?"

"Mr Fury-"

"My client and I will be leaving, until you have enough evidence to keep him here. All you have are the words of the man who, does indeed have blood on the tips of his fingertips, did you notice that? I did."

Fury and Tony stood up, and Fury led him out of the room.

"Thank you," Tony says, "For that."

"It's not over yet. If they find your DNA on anything damaged in that apartment it wont look good for you."

"I've never even been in there before today."

"Okay." Fury says, "Go, call me if they call you back in."

Tony nods, before getting into a cab, and heading to the hospital.

* * *

Tony ran into the hospital entrance, and was about to head to reception, when he saw Natasha yelling at a nurse.

"If you don't tell me what's going on right now I will storm in there myself!" Natasha shouted, "I'll shove the IV so far up your a-"

"Nat!" Tony shouted, and her sentence was cut short, and she turned to him.

"What the fuck happened?!" Natasha shouted as the nurse hurried off. "They won't tell me anything!"

"Can we talk somewhere?" Tony asked her.

"No. You are going to tell me what the hell happened to her right now! I get a call saying that she was stabbed by Aldrich?" Natasha questioned, her tone confused, and tears glassed over her eyes. "Why would he do that?"

"Just, come with me okay? I'll explain everything, or at least everything I know." Tony said to her, and Natasha nodded, following him into the room across from them, where he explained everything he knew. About,

The first time he thought something may be wrong.

The noises, the shouts.

The long sleeves.

The kiss.

The second kiss.

The sunglasses.

And then what he walked into in the apartment.

Tony expected a large variety of reactions.

A slap across his cheek was not one of them.

"What the hell?" He asks.

"Don't you dare, what the hell me," Natasha snapped. "You're telling me you know.. or you _thought_ he may be hurting her, and you sat back and you what? You did nothing!" Natasha shouted.

"There's nothing I could have done, Nat." Tony tells her, "I tired to get her to open up to me, but.. until she was ready there was nothing I could do. Not without making it worse."

"You should have told me."

"What would you have done if I did?" Tony asks her, and Natasha says nothing.

"You would have freaked out, and gone straight to her, where she would have lied and said nothing was going on, and then she would distance herself from you due to your suspicions. I've seen it all before, Natasha."

"Your parents?" She asks, "Sorry."

"Right now, she needs your support. Not your questions."

"Okay." She says softly, "Where is he?"

"In jail, I hope."

"They kept him in but let you go?"

Tony remained silent, before they both hurried out of the room, and ran into him in the hallway of the hospital.

"I'll fucking kill you, you son of a bitch!" Nat screams, and runs for him, but Tony grabs her and pulls her back.

"Let me go!" She shouts, fighting his hold.

"Natasha, stop it. Stop!" Tony shouts, and she does, she stills, and he loosens his hold on her, but his arms remained wrapped around her for safe measure.

"Wasn't enough to sleep with my girlfriend you had to sleep with her friend as well?" Aldrich says as he looks at them, and Natasha runs for him, and Tony isn't fast enough. Natasha grabs him and pins him to the wall.

"How does it feel?" Natasha says, "To be pinned up like this?"

"Let me go." He says to her calmly. "I don't know what Tony has told you but none of it is true."

"Bullshit." She spits at him, and he attempts to push her off him, but she's strong, and doesn't move even the slightest bit.

"You killed her." Natasha says, and Tony feels his world collapse. Natasha didn't tell him that bit. Tony found himself hoping that she was bluffing.

"No I didn't." Aldrich says, his eyes wide.

"Yes you did." Natasha tells him, "She died on the way here, you stabbed a vital organ."

Tony feels sick.

No. No. No.

"No I didn't. He did!" Aldrich shouts, staring at Tony.

"You did." Natasha says, and lets go, and he falls to the floor.

The police walk in then.

"Aldrich Killian." The officer says, and he looks up from the floor. "You are under arrested for the attempted murder of Virginia Potts, you don't have to say anything but whatever you do say can and will be used against you in court," He says and he pulls the man from the ground, "You are allowed the rights to a lawyer, if you can't afford one the state will opponent you one."

"His DNA was found all over the knife, and on the wounds around her neck, chest and cheekbone. His skin was also underneath her nail bed." Another officer tells both Natasha and Tony. With that, the officer walks away.

"What you said-" Tony starts, and Natasha sits on the seat in the waiting area.

"I don't know if I was lying or not, I don't know anything, I'm not her emergency contact."

"Who is?"

"Aldrich." Natasha says with a bitter laugh.

"Who is it when he's unavailable?"

"Me. So, now that he's been arrested I should be told everything." Natasha says, and just then, as if on cue, a doctor comes walking towards them.

"Natasha Romanoff?"

"Yeah. Is Virginia okay?"

"She suffered many injury's, lack of oxygen to the brain due to strangulation, a loss of a large amount of blood due to the stab wound. She had two cracked ribs, and a mild concussion."

Oh.. my god." Nat says, taking a deep breath and taking Tony's hand, who squeezes it gently in response.

"Can we see her?" Tony asks.

"Not right now. She is still in critical condition, and unconscious, giving her body the time it needs to heal is very important. It will most likely be a few days before you're able to see her, and another few days on top of that before she wakes."

"But she'll be okay?" Natasha asks.

"We're hopeful."

Natasha releases a deep breath as Tony thanks the doctor before she walks away.

Tony looks at Natasha, who has turned her back to him, wrapped in her arms, hugging herself, and Tony stands behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"She's going to be fine."

"I know." Natasha says softly, and turns to face him, "I just hate that she was going through this and I didn't even notice."

"It's hard to catch."

"You caught it from one look at her."

"I knew what I was looking for." Tony tells her, and Natasha nods. Tony pulls the young woman into his arms, and she laughs slightly, wrapping her arms around his waist. They allow the comfort.

* * *

A few days pass, and Tony and Natasha are walking into the hospital after getting a call from the doctor.

"Can we see her?" Natasha asks, and the doctor nods her head, and leads them to her room.

Virginia is asleep, or unconscious, as the doctor said.

The bruise on her eye had faded, and the bruises round her neck were fading away.

She was attached to a few wires, but both Tony and Natasha were assured that she was breathing on her own, and could wake up at any moment, that they should just give her time.

The doctor left the two alone, and they sat either side of her.

"I can't believe this is happening." Natasha says, taking her friends hand. "She was supposed to be happy, you know? She deserved that, after everything she'd been through."

"She's going to be okay." Tony tells her.

"Physically, maybe." Natasha says, "But shit like this doesn't just go away the minute your out of the situation." Natasha says, "She's gonna be closed off, and quiet for ages." Natasha says, and shakes her head, "I just wanted her to be happy."

"Me too." He says, and Natasha looks at him.

"Don't expect much from her, after this." Natasha tells him, "After her parents died, she completely shut down, I didn't see her for months. I took ages for her to become herself again. So, who knows what's going to happen after this. "

"She's got you, I'm sure she'll be fine sooner than you think."

"I hope so." Natasha says, and looks back at her best friend, pushing some hair out of her face. "She's too young to have gone through everything she has." Natasha says softly, and Tony looks at the red head he fell fast and hard for, and prays for her to be okay, and that she can be happy once again.

* * *

Two days after that, Tony and Natasha are sat in the hospital room with a still unconscious Virginia.

"So she Pepper sprayed him, and so now, I call her Pepper." Tony laughed.

"God I bet she hates it."

"She'll grow to love it!" Tony laughed again.

A knock at the door caught their attention.

"Mr Banner. Hi." Tony said, "Everything okay?"

"I was going to be by earlier than this, but with everything going on regarding the push back date of the SI deal and Virginia's absence, things have been a bit hectic." Bruce explained, "How is she?"

"She's getting there." Natasha told him, and Bruce smiled.

"I don't think we've met," Bruce said, and Natasha smirked, "Bruce."

"Natasha." She said, and shook his hand.

Tony looked down, piercing his lips as the other two looked at each other.

"I was just about to get myself some coffee.. so i'll just..." Tony says, but Natasha stands.

"I got it. You stay here." She says, "Care to join me, Mr Banner?" Natasha says, and Bruce just stares at her, before nodding.

"Sure."

The two leave the room, and Tony laughs slightly, and looks back at Pepper, taking her hand in his.

"You're missing out here, Pepper. Come back to us." He whispers, before placing a gentle kiss on her hand.

* * *

A few hours later, Tony was sat on a chair on the right side of Pepper, his hand resting on hers while he read through the new paper work Banner had left him, before he and Nat took their leave, something about getting dinner, he wasn't sure.

The flinch in the hand rested under his brought him from his reading, and he looked at her, sitting up and placing his other hand on her arm. Her eyes opened slightly, before closing once again.

"Come on." Tony said softly, "Come back." He squeezes her hand.

Her eyes flutter once again, and she squeezes his hand back in response. Her eyes meet his, and she smiles slightly, earing a smile from him.

"Hey." She says roughly, her voice dry from lack moisture in her throat.

"Hey." He smiles at her, "I missed you." He tells her, and her lips curl into a small smile. Her smile drops almost as soon as it comes, and she turns away from him. Tony feels his heart break for her.

"You're okay," He tells her, "Do you want to talk about it?" He asks her gently, she shakes her head in response.

"Okay." He says, and she slowly turns to face him, "Then we don't talk about it." He says, and she smiles sadly. "I'm going to get the doctor, okay?"

"Okay." She says, and her voice is so quiet and sad, her young age hits him once again, and he finds himself hit in the face with the fact that she is only twenty two, and has been through more than most go through in a life time.

Tony smiles at her, and heads out of the room, taking breaths as he walks towards the nurses section. He bumps into the doctor he'd seen numerous times checking on her over the last five days.

"Excuse me," Tony said, and the doctor turned to him, "Virginia Potts.. she woke up."

The doctor's eyes widened, and nodded. "I'm glad." He said, and heading towards the room.

"Miss Potts." The doctor said, "It's good to see you awake," He smiled, she smiled back, but not really. "Do you mind if I run a few tests just to make sure everything is okay?" He asks, her, and she nods, placing her water on the side.

"I'll just be outside." Tony says, and meets her eyes with a nod. The door closed behind him, and he grabbed his phone.

"Natasha, she's awake."

* * *

Natasha ran through the hallways of the hospital and towards Tony.

"Is she okay?" She asked him as she reached him.

"The doctor is just with her now, but she seemed it." Tony nods, and Natasha smiled, a giddy laugh leaving her.

"How was lunch?" Tony smirked, and Natasha swatted his chest, the both of them were laughing as the doctor came out of the room.

"How is she?" Natasha said as she turned to face him.

"Everything seems fine.. physically." The doctor said, "I've recommended seeing the on site therapist, for a few hours for the next three days we keep her, and then another meeting a week after she is discharged." The doctor said. "What she's been through over the last year, and then recently, it takes a huge toll on someone emotionally. Don't expect for her to bounce back properly for at least a year."

"A year?" Natasha asks.

"In most cases, but, everyone is different, and has had different experiences. I cant tell you if it will be less, or maybe more."

"Thank you." Tony said, and the doctor nodded.

"You can see her, if you like. But be patient, and do what you can to make her feel comfortable."

"Okay." They said, and the two entered the room.

* * *

The door opened, and Virginia looked up and smiled at her best friend, and her... Tony. She didn't exactly know what they were. Not now. Or ever, for that matter.

"Hey," Natasha said, "Centre of attention once again I see." She winked, and Virginia shrugged.

"What can I say.." She laughed.

"You had me worried for a second there." Natasha said, "Thought I'd have to cope with all this on my own then, my abandonment issues can't handle that."

The women laughed, and Tony stayed back, letting them have their moment.

"How is everything?" Virginia asks her, "How's Steve?" Virginia smirked.

"Didn't you get the memo?" Tony spoke, and the women looked at him, "She's dating your boss now."

"What?!" Virginia said, eyes wide, and Natasha rolls her eyes as Tony chuckles.

"I'm not.. dating your boss." Natasha says, "I'm just..." Natasha says, "We had lunch." She shrugs.

"You had.. lunch, with my boss?" Virginia questions.

"It was a nice lunch." Natasha says, "He wore green." Natasha says like she is making a point, "You know how much I love green."

"So you slept with my boss because he.. wore green?"

"Basically." Natasha said.

"I thought you just had lunch?" Tony asks.

"We did." Natasha says, "I slept with him afterwards."

Tony just nods, deciding to stay clear of that one.

"I can't leave you alone without you causing a mess." Virginia laughs.

"That's why you're not allowed to leave." Natasha says, tilting her head to the side, "I'm sorry that you went through this and I didn't know."

"It's okay." Virginia says.

"No it isn't." Natasha replies to her, grabbing her hand, and Virginia squeezes it, and looks at Tony, and he knows his cue, and he takes his leave.

"Hey." Virginia says, moving over on the bed and Natasha sat next to her, "You didn't know because I didn't want you to."

"I should have seen that something was wrong."

"I didn't want you to."

"Why? Why didn't you come to me?"

"It's.. complicated." Virginia tells her,

"I'm just.. I'm sorry." Natasha says, "You deserved a lot better than this."

Virginia smiles at her, and Natasha wipes a tear that falls from her face.

"Oh my god." Virginia laughs, "Is the rock solid Miss Romanoff crying?" Virginia jokes.

"No." Natasha smirks, "I had something in my eye."

"Sure."

"Whatever."

The women share a laugh, and Natasha looks at her friend, and silently thanks whoever was listening for brining her best friend back, and makes a vow to herself to hurt anyone who ever hurts her.

* * *

Virginia see's the on site therapist the next day, but she doesn't share much. She can't.

"I just want to go home." Virginia says to the therapist.

"And where would that be? The apartment you shared with your abuser?"

Virginia remained silent, because she made a good point. Natasha was going away for eleven days for work, and so staying with her wasn't possible, and she really didn't want to go back there. To that apartment.

"I don't know." Virginia says quietly.

"You've been through a huge trauma, and I know the last thing you want to do is re live it, and talk about it. But in order to recover, it will help to talk about how you feel, what you went through."

"I went through a lot, have been my whole life.

"Okay." The therapist nods, "We can start wherever you want to, with your parents, your experiences at a young age, and your abuse." The therapist says, "But, it's at your pace, and when your ready. I'm here for you, for when you're ready."

"I don't think ill ever want to talk about it."

"It will get easier, you've been holding onto this for so long, don't you think it will feel good to let it out? To talk about how you feel, not anyone else. You."

Virginia looked up at the therapist, and nodded.

"Whenever your ready, Virginia. Ill be here."

* * *

Tony was sat by her side when she awoke later that day, a smile on his face.

"Hey." He says to her, and she smiles.

"You're still here." She smiles back.

"Where else would I be?" He smirked, and she laughed. "You feelin' any better?"

"A little." Virginia said with a sigh, "I hate hospitals."

"I can imagine." He said to her, and she felt her heart soften at the way he didn't question, or pry, he just let her statement be, and let her be ready when she's ready.

"Have you thought about where you going when you get discharged tomorrow?" Tony asks her, and she shakes her head.

"I thought I'd be okay going back.. there, you know?" She says, and Tony nods, "But the thought of it," She just shakes her head.

"Well," He says, "I have a spare room in my apartment, and you're more than welcome to use it." He says to her, and she smiles at him.

"Really?" She asks gently, and he nods.

"Yeah." He says, "I'd just worry about you anyway so you may as well just keep me out of my misery." He jokes, and she laughs.

"Well, thank you," She says, and meets his eyes, "For everything."

"Always." He smiles, and she grabs his hand. "I'm here for you, you know that."

"I know." She looks at him then, and her eyes shift, "Is.. did he.." She stuttered, unable to form the sentence she wanted to.

"He's in jail." Tony says to her, and she meets his eyes, "And they reckon they have enough evidence to charge him without your statement, even if he does plead not guilty."

"Do you think he will?"

"I honestly don't know." Tony says.

"It shouldn't have gotten to this." Virginia says, "It's my fault I should have-"

"Hey." Tony interrupts, "This is not your fault, none of it was."

"I should have left him sooner-"

"You don't know what would have happened if you had done that. Look at what he did to you, Pepper. You were staying with him, and he did this." He tells her.

"I betrayed him."

"He abused you." He said to her, "And none of that, or this, is your fault. Okay?" He says, and she nods, looking away from him. "This isn't your fault."

"Okay." She says, and he kisses her hand gently.

* * *

Virginia was discharged the next day after speaking with the therapist, reminding her that the recovery for this, both emotionally as well as physically, was a process, and that letting people in did not make her weak, but strong, that she had survived this.

Virginia followed Tony out of the hospital, and were lead into the car by Happy, the apartment security, and friend, who was driving them, as paparazzi and press horded them, shouting questions ta the both of them.

Once they were in the car, they both let out a breath.

"Sorry about that." He says, and Virginia nods.

"That was intense." She says.

"Yeah, ever since I was pictured getting arrested last week they've been all over me."

"You were arrested?" Virginia says.

"Not really, a few questions, and then by lawyer got me out." Tony says, and Virginia looks at him, "I wasn't even there for long, it's fine, it was just because I was there."

"Oh." Virginia says, and looks out of the car window.

"The complex is swarming with people, so I will take you through the back entrance." Happy says, "Oh and Tony, Obadiah is in your apartment."

"What? Why?"

"Something about damage control. I'm not sure."

"Fuck sake," Tony mutters to himself.

"Is that a bad thing, that he's here"?

"No, it just means he's nosy and wont leave me alone." Tony jokes.

"Everything's okay?" She asks him, and he smiles.

"Everything's fine." He tells her.

 _I hope._ He thinks to himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> Okay. So. I have been a marvel fan for, like, forever, it feels like. But ive never wrote for these characters because I've never had the courage, never thought I could do them justice ect.. but, here we are lol.  
> I got this idea from watching Big Little Lies, grieving for Tony, and listening to Alec Benjamin, who, gave me the inspiration for this fic. Must Have Been The Wind is his song, and I recommend you to listen to it.  
> Mistakes are my own, sorry :) Hope you enjoy this! Let me know what you think!


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